When the Merced County Library system reopened branches to in-person use at the end of April, it reopened my appreciation for the quiet solace of books and reading.

The hours of operation remain the same, but for the time being, the capacity is limited to twenty-five percent to comply with health department guidelines.

It is nice to be able to go back to the library.

The system made do throughout the COVID crisis with curbside service, but that was not the same for me.

I’m a library fan and have been since the days of going to the one-room community library in the village where I grew up.

The library was housed in a classroom at the local school.

It is now in a stand-alone building in my hometown.

I remember my library card, the book card inside each cover where you could see the names of others who had taken out the same book, paying fines, and our librarian always reminding us to be quiet.

My high school library was bigger, had essentially the same rules, but a strict librarian.

She’d terminate our privileges the moment she believed we were up to no good. Still, she must have instilled my love for libraries. To be fair to her, by the time I was a teen,

I did not use the library for purely educational purposes.

There’s a legend in my family about my going there early in the school day and eventually being “kicked-out” for the day by this librarian for talking too much.

Later in the day, as the legend goes, my older brother innocently entered the same place only to be told by the librarian “I kicked you out earlier. Get out of here.”

In college, my part time student job was at Bird Library at Syracuse University. I stocked shelves with books. That’s all I did for two years at that job: put books back to their rightful place on the shelves. As a father, I remember taking my daughters to the library in the small upstate New York village where we lived. The children’s section had a sandbox filled with books.

My daughters would often choose a few books each from that sandbox.

Along about this time, VHS video tapes made their debut as part of the library collection.

In a few years, DVDs would replace those tapes on the rack.

Photo- library 3 no chair- Caption: You won’t find many chairs in the County libraries thanks to COVID rules. Photo- Steve Newvine

In recent years, I visited libraries up and down the valley in my job that took me out all over the Central California region.

Sometimes, I’d pop in at the library in a small city like San Joaquin in western Fresno County after a work meeting.

In Bakersfield, I made the City Library a regular stop during most of my monthly visits.

So I welcome the reopening of the Merced County Library branches. In Merced, the checkout desk has been relocated directly in front of the entrance.

The only chairs found are those at the computers, which are now socially distanced. And, according to County Librarian Amy Taylor, there’s a fresh coat of paint on the walls.

Some branches, such as the one in Atwater, received even more drastic changes.

The Friends of the Library bookstore did not reopen at this time. Amy Taylor says that will come as the capacity limits are raised.

The library is back, and it’s time to go back and rekindle some memories.