Upon discovering that Betsy has been reading the dime novels belonging to the family’s “hired girl” Rena, Betsy’s parents develop a plan to ensure that she can more easily access, and hopefully be inspired by, quality literature. They permit Betsy to visit the Carnegie Library and to take herself out to lunch — a first-ever solo expedition downtown that will be repeated bi-weekly. When Mr. Ray presents the plan to Betsy, she is thrilled. Her sisters (Julia and Margaret), Tacy, and Tib are just as excited for her.

On her first visit, Betsy is enchanted by the beautiful new library and its “orderly forest of bookcases, tall and dark” (p. 83, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1993). She and the young librarian, Miss Sparrow, strike up a friendship that will last through high school. Miss Sparrow recommends some classics for Betsy to read, including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales and the soon-to-be-classic (Miss Sparrow predicts) Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

Betsy digs in and becomes immediately, joyfully, immersed. A broad smile remains on her face throughout her noon lunch break at Bierbauer’s Bakery. She realizes, correctly, that she is experiencing nothing less than a sojourn into adulthood.

The earliest American libraries were generally private or academic collections of books. In 1731, Benjamin Frankin and some of his Philadelphia associates invented the subscription library, purchasing books that would be available to all members. Other subscription libraries followed. Andrew Carnegie funded almost 1700 library buildings between 1886 and 1919, essentially forcing those towns to fund and supply the books and library operations that the buildings had been built for. Betsy frequented one of these. The U.S. library system continued to expand.

Today, there are nearly 125,000 libraries of various types across the United States, in municipalities, schools and colleges, government, the armed forces, and other settings. Libraries provide all kinds of essential services in addition to loaning books, periodicals, and other media. Increasingly, many library services are offered digitally, and are networked together to share resources. Libraries ensure that access to knowledge can be available to all, regardless of wealth. The physical spaces of libraries remain critical in the digital age; they are essential hubs of a community.

The relationship that Betsy forms with the Carnegie Library proves transformative for her. It becomes a source of comfort, friendship, intellectual stimulation, freedom, and belonging. Many of us have been similarly influenced by the libraries that have been part of our lives. While accessing library materials and services digitally is extraordinarily efficient, and has become indispensable for modern researchers and readers, there remains something special and serendipitious about browsing through stacks of books in physical libraries, about working and relaxing in a space filled with their brilliance and beauty. The physical environment of a library is just as meaningful in a digital age as in Betsy and Tacy’s pre-digital world. Maybe more.

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On the early history of libraries, see: https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/library-america

On modern libraries, see: https://libguides.ala.org/c.php?g=751692&p=9132142

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