The Castle on the Hill

During finals week, college students, in New England and elsewhere, spent hours upon hours in their institution's respective libraries. The Trinity College Library, The Raether Library, is one I have grown very fond of over the last two years. Its two reading rooms, media center, mac labs, Watson Library, fireplaces, high ceilings and windows which let in enough natural light to trick you into thinking you're outside are all hard to not love and enjoy. This morning as I scrambled my local eggs (from the Saturday farmers market down the street), grated my Vermont Cheddar and toasted a slice of organic bread (also from the farmers market) I got to thinking about the library in my town. Forbes Library sits on a hill on West Street, right off of Main and next to Smith College. Forbes was  designed by an architect from Hartford, CT - William C. Brocklesby and is one of the most beautiful buildings in Northampton. I went to Forbes today because I've been meaning to read "The Grapes of Wrath" (Steinbeck) and was impressed at how crowded it was inside. All the Smith girls have left for the summer and I can't imagine that Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire or UMass students had trekked across the Coolidge Bridge to use this library when they have their own so I figured it was full of educated townies trying to get their read on, use the free wifi or just relax. It was a struggle trying to find Steinbeck as their were about 8 other people in the fiction section fighting for territory by the shelves containing Faulkner, Hemmingway, Vonnegut and Updike but I was persistent and thus successful. Forbes is much more impressive on the outside than the inside as it is relatively unorganized with books crammed onto metal shelves, not to mention having to pay to park.  The children's section downstairs, however, is comfortable and cute - if only I could get away with reading Dr. Suess as a rising 15th grader....

Don't get me wrong, Forbes is an iconic building and a must visit when in Western Massachusetts, I just can't fathom spending 12 hours a day in it as I had the pleasure of doing at Trinity in the Grand Reading Room of Raether Library.

To learn more about Forbes Library (pictured above) it's website is: www.forbeslibrary.org