‘What Does the Library Mean to You?’

Editor’s note: In this series, Toledo Lucas County Public Library customers speak about what the Library means to them. Their answers are lightly edited and condensed. These interviews took place in Main Library.

Astrid H., 52, of Toledo

The Children’s Library is a place to spend quality time with the kids. At home, you can get distracted by everything that needs to be done.

We play. We read. The Library is great the way it is organized. The kids have something to do in every corner. It’s just different things to discover and learn. We like to add on a little bit of learning no matter what we do. They like pretty much all of it.

This is the playground for when it’s wet, too cold, or windy outside. Then we play here.

Daniel J., 30, of Toledo

It’s an escape: a place to go, explore and learn new things. You can use the computer, read different books or ask questions about a subject you may be interested in. Librarians can help you find out more about it. It’s a pretty cool place.

I’m homeless right now. It’s nice to come here and read different books. Maybe you want to find out what’s going on in the world? They have newspapers with a lot of different things going on. The Library rooms have activities, too, from schooling to people coming in.

This is the playground for when it’s wet, too cold, or windy outside. Then we play here.

Astrid H.

Lynda C., 61, of Toledo

Genealogy is what I do. I like it better here in the Local History and Genealogy Department than I do on Ancestry or other websites, because I like to be in the books. They have city directories, obituaries, census records and newspapers. I can go back to 1670 on my family tree here in the colonies.

I have been coming up here since the ‘80s. This is my lifeline. I love looking through the books. I can spend hours, and hours and hours here.

You have to know your past to understand your present and to know where to go in the future. History excited me when I was little, and it still does.