Card Catalog – The Original Search Engine
As a kid, my favorite place to go was the local public library. I was a voracious reader – Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, any story filled with suspense. I’d make a beeline for the books on my to-read-list, then head to the card catalog, a wooden cabinet comprised of tiny file drawers full of sturdy, buff-colored cards, each containing information about a particular book – the Dewey Decimal Number, Author, Title, Subject. I’d flip through the cards in search of hidden treasure – an intriguing book that demanded my attention. Eventually, I’d stagger out of the library with an armful of books meant to tide me over until the next visit.
As a college student, I wandered the musty (and rather spooky) stacks of Harvard University’s Widener Library, daydreaming about how to get locked in for the night so I could have the place to myself. So. Many. Books. The stacks are housed on ten floors, including four underground levels and a tunnel (!) to the adjacent subterranean (!) Pusey Library. Some weekends, I’d spend hours at the Boston Public Library, soaking in the palatial architecture and stunning artwork. I’d pour through old newspapers stored on microfilm in search of interesting tidbits that couldn’t be found in any book. Then I’d settle into a chair in the cavernous Bates Hall, the library’s main reading room, a prime spot for people-watching, catnapping, and studying.
Even now, I still love to roam around the local library in search of the perfect read. There’s something about putting my hands on a physical book, getting a sense of what awaits inside the story, that can’t be replicated in an online shopping experience. I love libraries, which is why I’m delighted that five library systems (and counting!) have purchased The Wayward Spy. Three are from places I’ve never been – Cincinnati, Anoka County (Minnesota), and Hennepin County (Minnesota). (Perhaps a book tour to the Midwest is in order?). The other two library systems are much closer to home: Loudoun County, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In May, I am participating in a D.C. Library “Mystery Month” podcast that will focus on Washington, D.C. as a “character” in popular spy novels. I also will be doing an author talk with the D.C. library, and hope to do more of the same with other metro-DC library systems. It’s all very exciting!
To think that someone might be wandering through a local library, stumble upon The Wayward Spy, thumb through it, and decide it might be worth a read…well, that wasn’t something I considered possible back in the days of card catalogs and dusty book stacks. Thank you to all of the libraries!
If you find The Wayward Spy at your local library, send me a note on the contact link on the right. I’d love to hear about it!
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