It is Saturday morning at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library (Photo 1), in Niles, Michigan. I stacked a half-dozen books on the checkout counter while the librarian and my mother returned looks of surprise, and perhaps, doubt! Their doubts challenged me. I still read multiple books, splayed on every table and counter in my home.

Years later, modern architecture arrived in Niles in the form of a new library, the Niles Community Library (Photo 2). In that grand space, I enjoyed hours of reading. As I think back, I believe the design of the new library was the seed of intrigue from which my future career grew.

At Brandywine High School Library, I discovered my passport, as it were, to landscape architecture. It was a book titled simply "Landscape Architecture," written by a John O. Simonds. The tome led to a lifelong passion for design in the environment.

Studies at Michigan State University’s School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture led to another library. The MSU Main Library held a great mystery, the “grad stacks.” So named, this restricted enclave became accessible when a special project resulted in a pass to use it. There is no greater excitement than entry into the rarified space of sequestered information.

Departing Michigan I moved to Honolulu, residing in Manoa Valley, located “mauka” or mountainside of the University of Hawaii. There I frequented the Manoa Public Library (Photo 3), attempting my first effort at serious writing. I’ll finish that work someday, perhaps in Manoa Valley. “The Figurehead” simply pushed its way to the head of the line!

Undoubtedly, the greatest library I occupied was the Hesburgh Library (Photo 4), at the University of Notre Dame, while studying for a master's degree in architecture. Its tremendous mosaic façade drew my eyes upward each time I entered. I thought it no coincidence that the religious icon portrayed in the mosaic faced the football stadium (where it is affectionately known as "Touchdown Jesus" - no kidding).

Honorable mention in libraries goes to Abbot Public Library in Marblehead, Massachusetts. That library served as a landside refuge during gloomy weather while skippering a private yacht in Marblehead Harbor. It was in that library that I became exceedingly curious about the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, this leading circuitously to penning “The Figurehead.”

Today in California, I enjoy many brick and mortar libraries bound together with electronic linkages that are easy and accessible to use. The problem I see, however, is that libraries are consistently under-funded. Voter initiatives to increase funding frequently fail. I keep thinking this will change and I wait for the next Andrew Carnegie to step forward and reverse this unfortunate deficiency.

Thanks for dropping in and I hope you visit often; buy copies of "The Figurehead," for friends and relatives, and keep in mind it makes a great gift and at the same time promotes diplomacy and peaceful coexistence. Nothing could be better!

Photo 1 - Carnegie Free Library, Niles, Michigan

Photo 2 - Niles Community Library, Circa 1961

Photo 3 - Manoa Public Library, Manoa Valley, Honolulu, HI

Photo 4 - Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame