My mother was a part-time librarian when I was very young. I don’t remember much about it, but I do remember a couple of times I got to sit near her desk and flip through picture books. I remember how peaceful and fun it was.

My aunt was a librarian for years at a small country library that looked more like a narrow book store. It was so cool to me to walk into that long hallway of a library and see all the wonderful books just waiting to be borrowed.

She was also a librarian for a much larger library that my brother and I walked to, where we could wander the aisles and read anything we wanted, consuming and digesting story after story, true information and fantastic tales.

As a college student I spent many hours in the university library, not only because I needed to find materials there for classes but because there was so much there to be learned — free for the asking. Knowledge, available to me in exchange for the investment of a little time and attention.

When the internet came along and became popular, access to much of that information became freer and more readily available than it ever had before. I don’t blame people for logging into their browsers to find out information before picking up a book. I do it a lot, myself.

But, oh, the feel of a book, the weight of it in my hands. The crinkle of the newsprint when shuffling through pages of the newspaper. The comfort of the spine of a paperback in my palm as I read “just one more page” of an entrancing novel or a real page-turner of a historical account.

Book stores are great places, but so are our local libraries. There’s one just down the street — the Lincoln County Public Library is a treasure trove of knowledge and entertainment and it is FREE for your consumption. What starving person doesn’t want a free ticket to a buffet?

The library, my friends, is a buffet for the person willing to exchange a little time for the words on the printed page.

News editor Brett Campbell can be reached at brett.campbell@dailyleader.com.