Many years ago I challenged myself to “Read Around the World” - where I choose one book about each of the 195 countries in the world. I’m an avid traveler, so whenever I book a trip somewhere, I like to pick a book relevant to my destination before I depart.
I recently booked a diving trip to Honduras for this fall. While browsing the internet for relevant books, I found an interesting-looking true story about a team of adventurers who set off to find a rumored “lost city” deep in the Honduran jungle. What I found so incredible is that it was just published last year, and in this age of having seemingly
all
the information in the world at our fingertips, I loved the fact that there are still mysterious places on this planet that are being rediscovered.
I was just a couple seconds away from purchasing the book for my Kindle when I paused and thought, “Emily, you work
at
the library now. You really should first check to see if they have the book here.” Sure enough, they did. The next day, I got up from my desk, walked upstairs, grabbed the book, and was out the door with a lovely hardcover to dig into over the weekend.
While I loved visiting the library so much as a kid, I had just naturally drifted away from the brick-and-mortar establishments once I graduated college. One of the best parts about working for the Shasta Library Foundation is becoming re-acquainted with the library as an adult. While not everyone has the luxury of working in this beautiful building with thousands of books just steps away, there are plenty of options for borrowing books, even when strapped for time. You can reserve your book online, and it will be sitting on the Holds shelf just inside the entrance for you to pick up at your convenience, you can download a book to your e-reader of choice (super easy instructions can be found
here
), or even download digital audio books for your next road trip!
The funding of these convenient resources are just a few of the many ways that the Shasta Library Foundation supports our libraries. I'm grateful that I've rediscovered the role of libraries in my life, and hope that you will as well!
