Real Life Stories

Andrea from Hollywood, Florida
I grew up in a small country farm in Puerto Rico a long time ago.  We had to walk for at least one hour to get to the city to attend school because the country school only went up to the 6th grade and most of the parents wanted their children to attend school at the city.  The school building in the city held all the grades: from 1st to 12.  Needless to say, we did not have a library nor did we hear about one.  I did not know that there was such a thing.  The only books we read were the text books provided to us in school.  Our teachers were not able to provide READ MORE
Alison from Poughkeepsie, New York
How Has the Library Changed Your Life? By Giving My Life a Place of Constancy, Familiarity and by Giving Me a Love of Learning READ MORE
Tricia from Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania
The library hasn't so much changed my life as become my life. Having grown up with regular library visits, I always regarded libraries as an information source and a place to enjoy myself as I delved into fairy tales, then later chapter books, then novels. As an adult, I carried a sense of awe at everything that was available to me through my local library, a sense that was greatly magnified with online access to (literally) the world.   READ MORE
Tena from North Canton, Ohio
If you already know that the library is a portal to endless information, you will understand my story. September 4, 2003, a doctor finally determined the reason for my daughters’ diminishing vision – retinal degeneration, a condition that leads to eventual blindness. That day at Cleveland Clinic was the day everything changed. READ MORE
Tara from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana until I was 13 years old, and then moved to a small town in Tennessee.  Ten years later, I returned to Baton Rouge.  I am married to a captain in the Baton Rouge Fire Department and have a nine-month-old son and a 17-year-old stepson.  I work as the Special Events Coordinator and Executive Assistant to the Publisher/CEO of the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. READ MORE
Susan from Orlando, Florida
Even though we've lived in Orlando for over 40 years, just a few miles from the Magic Kingdom, the most magical place I know is the Orange County Public Library.  It looks a bit like a castle on the outside and there is a virtual king's ransom of treasures inside that have profoundly influenced our entire family.  Like most Florida residents, we've been to Disney World many times to soak up their special brand of make-believe and magic; but even when our three sons were youngsters, they always liked the library better and still do to this day.  READ MORE
Alma from Weymouth, Massachusetts
When I was growing up, my family moved often. At least twice a year we relocated to a new apartment in a different part of Brooklyn, NY. As a result of all of this moving, I did not have a chance to establish myself in a school to make friends. I was always the new kid on the block, and was the focus of every bully in every school I attended. Since I wasn’t living in the neighborhoods too long, I didn’t have a chance to make friends. READ MORE
Storm from Tacoma, Washington
On a hot, dusty day in the Puyallup valley of Washington State, a young Indian girl saw a strange yellow vehicle parked alongside a farm lane.   The year was 1962, the big yellow vehicle was a bookmobile, and I was that young girl - a migrant farm worker who unknowingly started her journey out of those fields. READ MORE
Katherine from Eau Claire, Wisconsin
I’m a retired clinical psychologist, blind from birth.  When I was growing up in the 1950’s in Kalamazoo, MI, the librarian at the Michigan library for the blind was my hero.  He sent me books in Braille and on records from the Library of Congress through the mail.  When those big black boxes of Braille books arrived on the front porch, my anticipation was just about as great as it was before Christmas.  I knew I would soon be losing myself in a book about somebody else’s world.  One of my early Braille favorites was Brighty of the Grand Canyon.  I can still re READ MORE
Sandra from Port Chester, New York
I never thought that at the age of 63, I would be looking for a job and an inspiring one at that.  Life for me had taken some funny twists and turns, and it seems that I had worked for many years in various jobs that I disliked.   It got to the point that I did not wish to work at all, and even hated the very idea of an office or anything to do with work. READ MORE

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