A Library Can Be

A friend

A garden

A school

A window

A kingdom

Our brain

A paradise

A portrait

A resource

A war room

An arsenal

An orchard

Real school

A board room

A lighthouse

A power base

A safe space

A sanctuary

Good company

A lighthouse

A quiet place

A story house

An alma mater

A closed space

A silent space

A world opener

A community hub

A book container

A command centre

A place to go to

A realm of order

Where books live

A community space

A free university

A great equaliser

A house of dreams

A land of shadows

A place of safety

The coolest place

The warmest place

A growing organism

A haven of privacy

A palace of dreams

A place of freedom

A place of reading

A public treasury

An open sanctuary

Information access

Very like a museum

What belongs to us

A bank of democracy

A non-discriminator

A place always open

A public loungeroom

A nurturer of wisdom

A path to the future

A place of community

A temple of learning

Dukedom large enough

Much more than books

A beautiful old thing

A collection of books

A container for books

A crypt of literature

A great place to hide

A place of sanctuary

A safe place to study

A source of knowledge

A wilderness of books

An incitement to read

Freedom within wisdom

Infinity under a roof

The future of reading

The heart of a school

The wish of its maker

Where free books live

Where knowledge lives

A haven from the world

A symbol for democracy

An archive of longings

Our house of intellect

The door to many lives

A force for social good

A hospital for the mind

A lake of mental energy

A pillar of any society

Food, shelter, and muse

Thought in cold storage

A democracy strengthener

A vestibule of happiness

A peek into someone’s DNA

A place where books live

A place where love begins

A presence for the people

Good shelter from the sun

The heart of a democracy

A diary of the human race

A place to check out books

A symbol of trust and hope

The wardrobe of literature

Not a cloister for an elite

The most beautiful building

A random collection of books

A reflection of its readers

Central to our free society

Where we confront everything

A portal to a thousand worlds

A fueling station for our mind

A place to store obscure books

A vital adjunct to our schools

The mathematician's laboratory

A way of knowing someone’s mind

The sole community center left

A storehouse for mind and spirit

More than a repository of books

Where place and possibility meet

A collection of the books we want

A growing place, not a made place

A hallmark of a civilized culture

Something we go to, for reference

A place to discover our potentials

A preserver of democratic freedoms

A promoter of knowledge and virtue

A safe fortress in a chaotic world

Like a mountain or meadow or creek

Our great teacher and storyteller

A feast to which we are all invited

A house full of stories and secrets

A place to find out about something

A place where history comes to life

A stability and continuity provider

The brightest beacon of global hope

A never-failing spring in the desert

Like a shop where everything is free

A repository of medicine for the mind

All the university we might ever need

Not a shrine for the worship of books

The brightest beacon of youthful hope

The first step of a thousand journeys

The last vestige of public free space

A place quieter than the world outside

A reservoir of strength, grace and wit

The brightest beacon of community hope

The ultimate restaurant for brain food

A room or building where books are kept

The fuel of information and imagination

A base camp for the adventure of reading

A place apart, sanctuary of pure thought

A reminder of order, calm and continuity

The delivery room for the birth of ideas

A place to go if we want to sit and think

A place to go, to get in out of the rain

An adjustable wrench for opening the head

A place where we can live a thousand lives

The greatest invention of our civilization

A gateway to other minds, hearts, and lives

A temple unabridged with priceless treasure

A place we can find small miracles and truth

A store of energy that fuels the imagination

One of the necessities of life, not a luxury

The biggest bargain on the face of the earth

The foundations of our culture, not a luxury

A critical tool to help children love reading

An act of faith in the continuity of humanity

Central to the quality of life in our society

A friend that lets us borrow any of its stuff

A physical location or a virtual space, or both

A place full of mouth-watering food for thought

A collection of things for reading or reference

A place to go when we want to find out something

An image of that which we are not, and cannot be

One of the few correctives of premature senility

Evidence that we may yet have hope for the future

A place of mental diversion, learning, and comfort

A place we can go to learn something new, for free

A provider of free access to ideas and information

A reminder that there are good things in this world

A vessel in which the seed for the future is stored

A place of free and open inquiry on a personal basis

An engine of great potentiality for national welfare

Where we meet fascinating characters we never forget

A university, with the exception that no one graduates

A consistent and major source of books for free reading

A steady, reliable, deep and long-lasting pleasure giver

A force for self-improvement and the pursuit of knowledge

A place for the retiring of disposition or faint of heart

The place to find the answer to a question about the world

A mysterious, wondrous place with the power to change lives

An Oval Office for all who preside over their own destinies

A center of public happiness first, of public education next

A place where most things of value can have their beginnings

A collection of books, especially when systematically arranged

A raucous clubhouse for free speech, controversy and community

The number one thing a community can do to benefit its people

A meeting place of the mind - recreational as well as educational

A repository of information that gives every citizen equal access

A spot at home where we can be at home to ourselves and hide away

The simplest and the most open way to give people access to books

Where ideas sleep between covers, waiting for us to discover them

A university of the people, from which students are never graduated

Where programs are delivered and people engage in lifelong learning

A large, systematically arranged collection for reading or reference

A palace where the lofty spirits of all nations and generations meet

A place devoted to individual intellectual inquiry and contemplation

Only good if we use it, like books only exist when someone reads them

Where we may listen to the voices of poets singing their undying songs

An essential resource for our children, our communities, and our future

A sanctuary from war, from the storms of our families and our own minds

Every town’s fortress in the face of ignorance, intrusion and bad behavior

About freedom - freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication

The torch of the world, illuminating the path when it feels too dark to see

A place that allows us to ask questions about the world and find the answers

A universe of self-serving rules that translate those of the universe beyond

A place that is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner, if large

A place to conserve certain objects (books) and organize them in certain ways

A place to find things we need to have a balanced life and great opportunities

A valuable center of education, learning and enrichment for people of all ages

Where we can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books

A physical building with a number of books that serves a geographical community

A place we don’t notice because it is always there, and always has what we need

A place where we prepare to join the world at an advantage, not retreat from it

A source of both cultural and intellectual sustenance for the individual reader

An indoor public space in which we do not have to buy anything in order to stay

A haven free from the dangers of street or the numbing temptations of television

The biggest cracker box factory in the world - the more we eat, the more we want

An ivory tower or a quiet room in a sanitarium facing away from the afternoon sun

A lumber room where we can store our brain furniture and can get it when we need it

A critical element in the free exchange of information at the heart of our democracy

A provider - enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable

A symbol of hope, learning, progress, literacy, self-improvement and civic engagement

An arena of possibility - opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world

A symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought

A place for the study of the human spirit’s progress and errors, and the study of history

Where most of us really fall in love with books, where we can browse and choose on our own

About education, which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university

A community treasure chest, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone equally

An instrument of choice, where the choice is always ours, not our elected or designated leaders

Like a harbor, into which a far-traveling curiosity has sailed with its freight, and cast anchor

A platform upon which we catch trains to Every Where and Any Place, Another Time and Across Space

The most democratic thing in the world - what can be found there has undone dictators and tyrants

A good place to go when we feel unhappy, for there, in a book, we may find encouragement and comfort

What is best about us as a society - open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, and engaging

A safe place to fall - a place where we can explore things without worrying about failure and judgment

A collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes

A place for sociable thinking, exploring, exchanging ideas and falling in love, not just for reading

A garden where we can pluck the fruit that grows therein, and gather the roses, the spices and the myrrh

A starting place for the adventure of learning that can go on whatever our vocation and location in life

A place where books live, and where we can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books

A good place to go when we feel bewildered or undecided, for there in a book, we may have our question answered

The most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection

Where those without money, power, access, university affiliation, or advanced degrees can get information for free

A place we can learn by following our own nose, which is very different from someone telling us what we should learn

An offerer of individual and personalized learning opportunities as opposed to standardized and homogenized education

Where books live - books that hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had

A place where we can go to find yearning for something beyond the social forces in our own world, in our own neighborhood

A way in which well-meaning societies leave the wealth of the past arranged A to Z so that anyone walking past can find it

An open upper of windows to the world that inspires us to explore and achieve, and contributes to improving our quality of life

An island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance, particularly if the library is very tall and the surrounding area has been flooded

An agency which organizes, disseminates and encourages the use of by the people at large of the accumulated knowledge available in books

A different kind of social reality (of the three dimensional kind), which by its very existence teaches a system of values beyond the fiscal

The heart of its community - providing access to information and educational opportunities, bringing people together, leveling the playing field, and archiving our history

Something we simply look at, because it gives us succor, answers to some idea of who we are or who we would like to be, who we will be once we own every book we need to own

A fascinating place - sometimes we feel we are under the canopy of a railway station, and when we read books about exotic places there's a feeling of travelling to distant lands

A place set apart to contain books and other material for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference, as a room, set of rooms, or building where books may be read or borrowed

A place to stroll in hushed aisles, letting our eye rove along dimly lit shelves where each spine, each title, seems to beckon with a promise of incredible wonders, surprises, and adventures

An ever-growing entity - it multiplies seemingly unaided, it reproduces itself by purchase, theft, borrowings, gifts, by suggesting gaps through association, by demanding completion of sorts

A venerable place where we preserve the history of our experience, our tentative experiments, our discoveries, and our plans - in books may be found the recipes for daily living, the prescriptions for the mind and the heart

A home filled with our stories - on every shelf, we see ourselves, experience our collective conscious, describe our dreams and our great longing for times that have passed, the sterling moment of the present and the glorious future known only in our imaginations

A collection of resources in a variety of formats that is organized by information professionals or other experts who provide convenient physical, digital, bibliographic, or intellectual access and offer targeted services and programs with the mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of audiences and the goal of stimulating individual learning and advancing society as a whole

A place where we may withdraw from the hurry and bustle of everyday life, from the cares of commerce and the strife of politics, and hold communion with the saints and heroes of the past, a place where the good and true of bygone ages, being dead, yet speak, and reprove the vanity and littleness of our lives, where they may excite us to noble deeds, may cheer and console us in defeat, may teach us magnanimity in victory