Free Library of Philadelphia, Central Location, Vine Street

I went to the library today for the first time in many months. Lots of driving this weekend - b-day parties in Albany and Boston on Saturday and in Kutztown and Lancaster on Sunday. So I explored the rather limited books on CD collection, but came away with 2 hopefully strong titles. One called Voices of the Shoah is an audio project on the Holocaust and the other is about Wilt Chamberlain and in particular his 100 point performance against the Knicks in Hershey, PA.

While at the library, I was reminded of how much I like libraries. Like so many of us, I have very fond memories of my childhood library in Emerson, NJ. I like libraries for lots of reasons:

• I love to read
• Everything is free
• Every library has so much in common, while at the same time each is quite unique
• Libaries are central components of the community, including being a great gathering place for all in the community. There are few other places where such a cross-sampling of people come together in the same place.

While at the library today, I came up with an idea. I want to see as many libraries as possible and document these experiences. On the onehand, while traveling I hope to include the main public library branch as one of the sites I visit, in a similar way that I try to go for a job in new places and sometimes check out heralded museums. In addition to the central library branches, I hope to explore the community ones too, in my home here in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

In terms of large city central branches of libraries, I have been to:

Philadelphia, DC, NYC, Chicago, Milwaukee