Libraries Then and Now

Indy Libr. Click to enlarge!

One month to go until the release of my novel, THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT, and all sorts of very exciting things are happening.  But, mostly, I’m thinking about libraries.

The first clear memory of my life is the memory of an afternoon in the central branch of the Indianapolis Public Library.  Back then, you had to be five years old to get a library card, so I made my mother take me there to sign me up just after my fifth birthday.  What I didn’t know at the time was that there was a catch.  In order to get your card, you had to be able to write your name unassisted, something I couldn’t do yet.  After lots of drama and tears (I was an operatic child), my patient mother took me to the main hall of the library (a beautiful room with grand fireplaces and brass Egyptian-style decorations on the shelves) and taught me to write my name.  I have loved libraries since that day.

So one month before my first book arrives on store shelves, of all the thrilling parts of this adventure, I’m most excited by the idea that the book will be in libraries across the United States and as far away as Europe and Australia.  To this day, I would still throw a crying fit if I couldn’t have my library card!

Edward Kelsey Moore

NOTE: the reading hall described in this essay, and shown in the picture above, was recently transformed by the Indianapolis Public Library into the Center for Black Literature and Culture. The reading hall has been completely reimagined, and thanks to careful planning the features described in the essay are still there and still beautiful. The Center is for ALL who are interested in exploring the rich heritage that has influenced nations across the globe.

Visit the Central library, and the Center for Black Literature, whenever you are in Indianapolis -- they are free and open to the public.  And don't miss the Central Library's spectacular indoor plaza, with its dramatic six story steel-and-glass atrium connecting the original library structure with a modern building across the plaza. Together they create an unusual, sun-filled, climate controlled library campus.

---