The Library is the most underrated part of Williamsburg

This one goes out to all my fellow Tribesmen who love reading. The rest of you are excused to go reexamine your life choices.

William & Mary is an academic institution of higher learning which, like most universities, has a library. I love Earl Gregg Swem library. It’s great, but just it isn’t the Williamsburg Public Library.

Located on Scotland Street, a pleasantly short stroll from campus, the Williamsburg library is an amazing place. It’s a hella swaggy building, with 1.5 floors, a theater and a children’s book section, which is the place of dreams and makes me wish I was seven again.

I love libraries. If I ever feel sad or angry, I retreat to their quiet shelves. They are filled with books to read. They have free wifi. And again, Swem is great, but there are some things the Williamsburg library can offer that Swem simply cannot.

Let’s start with the best part of the Williamsburg library right off the bat: it has so many bad magazines. Bad magazines are amazing – they are quick to read, keep your self-esteem low and carry just the sort of trashy content required to reset one’s brain after doing intense learning. One can read this brain candy off-campus in the Williamsburg library away from the judgey eyes of peers. I’d rather be judged by the old people who go to the library than my peers as I devour dozens of issues of Seventeen.

The collection at the public library is different from the Swem collection, and they complement each other so well. The collection of fiction books at Swem leaves a lot to be desired. The Williamsburg collection is filled with stories that are a little more recent, a little less academically redeemable.

The YA (Young Adult) collection is nearly non-existent at Swem. Despite no longer really being of the proper age to read YA books, I do anyway. They are really fast reads, they remind me I’m not as whiny as I think I am and it’s easier to relate to a 15-year-old girl than the 50 year old divorcee that plagues the adult fiction genre. They are like trashy magazines in full book form, and the Williamsburg library has them.

The Williamsburg library also carries lots of nonfiction topic overview books that can help jump-start research or give you basic facts about a topic you want to know more about, rather than the more specified, denser books of Swem. The library has music and movies. It has a “books for sale” section, where second hand books can be bought cheaply so they can be read at a slower pace and without a due date. College schedules can get hectic – not everyone can find large pockets of time to read.

Since very few William & Mary students use the public library, it can be a fabulous place to study. While it does have busy times, during off-peak moments it’s a great location to do work. There is a silent room, and it’s refreshing to switch up study locations every now and then.

If “connecting with the community” is your kind of thing, get a library card. Townies go there. You can really delve in by attending one of the book clubs or programs they put on. See what books people recommend to you, either through the recommendation shelf or through actually talking to a librarian.

Let’s be real, if you ask the average William & Mary student what you should read, they will give you the name of some cerebral book which will take forever to finish. They are giving the names of highbrow books to make themselves look good. I am one of those students – never ask me what you should read. Remind yourself there is a world that’s populated by people outside of the 18-22 age range.

If community connections aren’t your cup of tea, get a library card. Town people are scared of you – you’re a college student, a wild card. Who knows what you might do. They don’t want to talk to you. Above all, this is why I love the Williamsburg library: I can walk there, in silence, read a crappy magazine, in silence, browse bookshelves, in silence, walk home, in silence. It is the ultimate place to go if you don’t want to deal with people. Whether you want to actually get books or do homework or hide from your responsibilities while reading Calvin and Hobbes, you can do it in silence.

Unless you check a book out. If you check a book out, please exchange verbal pleasantries with the librarian instead of being sulky. The first free moment of freshman orientation, I got a library card. People found me ridiculous. These are the type of people I hide from in the library. All it takes is your student ID and W&M address – any William & Mary student can get a library card. It’s fabulous, it’s worth it and it’s free.