When I was in library school, I envisioned the first day of class, I would take an oath promising my love and allegiance to physical books, thus casting aside eBooks forever. I was expecting blood, candles—the whole nine yards.
Sadly, nothing like that happened. I did, however, make sure to declare my love of physical books over eBooks any chance that I got. I let it be known that I was a real librarian who would not be beaten by the likes of Kindles everywhere. I would prevail and keep the magic of smelly old books alive for centuries to come. My children will know the pain of paper cuts, and they will feel my wrath when they dog-ear book pages!
But soon after graduating from library school, something in me changed. Well, a lot of things in me changed, but we don’t have time for all of that. I suddenly found myself beckoned by the lure of eBooks. I saw people on trains and planes casually holding thousands of books inside a single device. They didn’t even break a sweat. My days of packing an entire suitcase dedicated to books could be behind me. The great underwear shortage of Disney World 2009 would not be repeated!
I slowly began to break my imaginary oath, and I let eBooks into my life.
I evolved.
For once.
I began to check out eBooks from the library, and at any given time, I could have between 12 to 987 books checked out on my device. If my device dies, I die. Or at least a part of me does. Reading eBooks means I can bring as many books with me as I want. I now have a variety of options to pick from as I ignore my family during the holidays.
Reading eBooks means that I can check out a book at any time of day or night. I no longer have to wait for the library to open in the morning to read an entire book about glue or check out a book for a book club that meets tomorrow.
It’s not that I don’t still read physical books. I am often still tempted by pretty colors, or heaven forbid a book has one of those fancy built-in bookmarks. I simply can’t resist!
I found that it’s not one or the other. Someone does not need to be firmly sat in one camp. Like onions, people have layers. We are allowed to like more than one thing, and I found that adding eBooks has only made my reading life more enjoyable. They have also helped significantly cut down on my chiropractic bill.
Is liking eBooks an unexpected opinion for a librarian to have? Perhaps. Do I do what I want? Yes.
Here I am reading an eBook in the wild. The best part? Nobody around me can see what I’m reading. Therefore, I no longer need to endure judgment from the world.
