Jan. 18, 2026: Loaning Books

To Bibliophiles, (someone with a great love of books) they are more than pages, text, and covers. They are ideas. They are possibilities. They are new worlds to explore. Information to discover, and new friends to meet.  Our collections can vary from haphazard, to highly curated and organized.  And for most of us, they become near and dear to our hearts.  Like loved ones in our lives.

         As a result, some bibliophiles protect their collections by either not letting others borrow their books, or by keeping very close track of who borrows what.  Others may be more relaxed about letting others peruse and borrow from their collections.  I tend to be the later.

         Our home library is definitely a reflection of my husband and me. There are enormous sections for cookbooks, (my passion), and golf books, (my husband’s passion). We also have large sections of history, biographies, health & fitness, psychology, gardening, education, and children’s books. Smaller sections house our poetry, travel, and fiction books.  We do not have a dedicated room that is our library, so nearly every room has bookshelves and books are located accordingly. For example, my teaching and writing books in the office, fitness and health book in our home gym. 

I love loaning out our books. If I have a book that I know a friend would enjoy, I am quick to reach out and let them know. If someone is at our home and comments on a specific book, I will often offer to let them borrow it.

As a teacher, my classroom is lined with bookshelves as well, none of the shelves matching, that house a collection that started 35 years ago and has been added to each year. Every genre and nearly every topic is represented.  

         My students know that the books are there for them.  Some students have their favorite sections, (biographies or fantasy books) and others just love to peruse the shelves in search of new discoveries.

The magical thing is that students that I do not know, will knock on my classroom door and ask if they can borrow a book. They may have a specific book in mind, one that someone recommended and they know I probably have.  Or they may just want to browse, looking for inspiration. Yes, we have a Media Center at our school where students can, and do, routinely check-out books. But kids love having options.

Yes, the down side is that sometimes books do not make it back to me.  I have occasionally had books arrive in the mail, with a note from a former student, who discovered one of my books while packing for college and wanted to see that it got back to me.  I shudder to think of how many books I have lost over my 30-plus years of teaching, but I honestly think that is a small price to pay for knowing that books are getting into the hands of kids. 

And really, isn’t that the purpose of having a library?