Well, when I was a kid with no computer (and thus, no internet access, aside from stolen moments during classes that took place in the computer lab at my middle school), being able to browse at my leisure at one of the library's many free use computers was really nice. And having a place to retreat to during the summer was very important, in retrospect, given how screwed up my family had gotten by that time (lots of arguments between my parents, and some more directly abusive behaviors as well).
But mostly: books.
I would crisscross the library for at least an hour, hitting the fiction section, and the historical non-fiction one, and then the fiction section again, and then the little offshoot wing where all the kids' books were, and then the fiction section again.
I would end up walking to the circulation desk with my fingers laced together around waist level, supporting an unsteady pile of books that literally stretched all the way up to my chin -- because I had to press my chin down on the top book to keep them from falling and scattering everywhere! And then the librarians would carefully stack the books into doubled plastic bags from every grocery and department store within city limits, and I'd lug them home. I had a section of my bookshelf specifically dedicated to what I had checked out from the library at the time, and said shelf was often full.
Also, apart from the ridiculous amount of fantasy and sci-fi reading I got in thanks to the library, it's also how I first encountered the Final Fantasy series, if indirectly. I happened to come across a very, very old player's guide for Final Fantasy VI (or, as the cover called it, Final Fantasy III) while browsing the second floor's sprawling nonfiction section. I hardly even remember what it was like, but for whatever reason, I found it charming, and when the clerk at EB Games mentioned that "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" was coming out, much later, I ended up placing a preorder, and the rest is history.
no subject
But mostly: books.
I would crisscross the library for at least an hour, hitting the fiction section, and the historical non-fiction one, and then the fiction section again, and then the little offshoot wing where all the kids' books were, and then the fiction section again.
I would end up walking to the circulation desk with my fingers laced together around waist level, supporting an unsteady pile of books that literally stretched all the way up to my chin -- because I had to press my chin down on the top book to keep them from falling and scattering everywhere! And then the librarians would carefully stack the books into doubled plastic bags from every grocery and department store within city limits, and I'd lug them home. I had a section of my bookshelf specifically dedicated to what I had checked out from the library at the time, and said shelf was often full.
Also, apart from the ridiculous amount of fantasy and sci-fi reading I got in thanks to the library, it's also how I first encountered the Final Fantasy series, if indirectly. I happened to come across a very, very old player's guide for Final Fantasy VI (or, as the cover called it, Final Fantasy III) while browsing the second floor's sprawling nonfiction section. I hardly even remember what it was like, but for whatever reason, I found it charming, and when the clerk at EB Games mentioned that "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" was coming out, much later, I ended up placing a preorder, and the rest is history.