there were books.
You picked them up
you set them down
Despite all the admonitions
you broke their spines
so that they would lie flat.
When nobody was looking
you bent the corner of the page
to remember where you had stopped reading.
These books were stabled in libraries.
Then one day somebody noticed
there were other animals in the stable.
CDs
Microfiche
Tapes
They decided the library had to be renamed.
It was not a library anymore.
It became a media center.
Everything changed.
Libraries had creaky pine floors
two big oak doors
a wooden card catalogue with brass handles
a musty book smell
a dour spinster in a bun
who knew every book,
especially those she loved
and those of which she disapproved.
The cards in the card catalogue
were soft and fuzzy on the edges
from being handled so much.
Fingertips so many.
The librarian was dusty on the edges
from being handled so little.
Fingertips too few.
Media centers have carpets
shiny things in plastic cases
air conditioning
computers
more shiny things
media specialists.
Progress again.
Eventually they quit using the term media center.
Now they are called libraries again.
But they are still media centers.
Libraries smelled like books.
Media centers smell like plastic.