A few weeks ago, I stated that editors should be readers. Readers, by nature, love libraries.

When my husband and I lived in the Brooklyn area of Baltimore City, we were lucky enough to live within walking distance of a small branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. On Saturday mornings, I would often venture there to check out a Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta) or Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum) novel to read during my light rail train commute. I would also read in the lunch room at work while I ate (yes, I know how rude this sounds, but one must understand that many of my coworkers often spoke with each other in a language that I did not comprehend, so it was more entertaining to follow a murder mystery than to try to decipher said language).

In 2010, we moved to Frederick and going to the library suddenly presented a problem. Of all the libraries in the Frederick County, Maryland system, there are two that are a reasonable distance from our home. One of them is right in the downtown area, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Its two floors are packed with all kinds of books and resources and computers. Oh, how I wish I could visit it regularly. Why can’t I? One must park in a garage to get to it. Parking garages are not my friends. I can never reach the kiosk to get my ticket and must open the car door, making myself look inept. If I manage to get the car close enough to the kiosk, I inevitably bang my driver’s side rear view mirror against the kiosk, giving the mirror a permanent streak of yellow paint. Although the library will validate two hours of parking, it just is not worth the stress that it causes me.

About five or six years ago, a new library opened in the nearby town of Walkersville. I very much wanted to go, so I Google mapped directions to the library and set out. Would you believe that I could not find it? I tried more than once, to no avail. Perhaps I should try again using my GPS this time, although I tend to not trust GPS.

I will, by hook or by crook, start regularly visiting a library again.