A Library Story [Books & Reading]
To what can you compare the intense joy of discovering libraries and how they work? Because I really don't know. I'm 33 years old, and for the first time in my life, I used a library. It's crazy, I know, to be this old and discovering libraries for the first time, but it just never was part of my childhood. I didn't have access to actual libraries (bookstores don't count), and I never thought to seek them out once I moved out of Saudi and into a "normal" country that has libraries, because I was too busy trying to "lead a normal life." I guess. At the National Library of Malaysia (Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia), I swallowed whatever potential embarrassment there was in asking for help – I asked the helpdesk lady to tell me how to navigate the library and what are its parts, and then I asked two library workers (are they all called librarians, you guys?) to explain to me how I can find books that I'm looking for. Inside the National L...