Exploring the word hoard

I'll tell you how I know that I am a complete dork: I love Firestone. I think it is the most wonderful place on campus. And I'm not afraid to say so.

As a freshman, my friends and I had a competition to see who could go the longest without going inside. I think the winner made it to his sophomore year. If you remember the episode of 'Seinfeld' where the characters make their infamous bet on the temptation to resist self-pleasure, I would be Kramer. I didn't make it though Freshman Week.

I think Firestone gets a raw deal because it represents so completely all the work that we have to do during the year. If you're like me, then the work isn't all that bad, but I do understand that it gets supremely overwhelming at times. Just like the library — have you ever walked through the stacks back in a rarely used corner, where you have to turn on the lights as you go? There are so many books on so many subjects. It's a veritable superstore of material.

How many times have you searched for a book, an author or a journal and found that Firestone didn't have it? Perhaps a few times. But consider how many times you search for something and find it. Does this strike anyone else as amazing? I can't imagine the work the library's bibliographers do to achieve this.

Every time I get a call number and go in search of it, I am struck by the organization the library has — who put all these books in some sort of order? Granted what I need isn't always in the most easily accessible places. But the library is still ordered and systematized to facilitate finding books. Just thinking of the task of labeling all the books with call numbers, putting them in numerical order and finding a place for them daunts me and makes me appreciate that I only have to go and find them.

Of course, there are always those times when you go to find a book and it's not where it should be. Or those times when you can't find any research material on your topic. Since the librarians know the little 'tricks-of-the-trade' that your average undergrad doesn't, they have a way of finding books and articles that, were it not for them, would have remained hidden in the depths of C Floor.

And don't even get me started on the rare books collection — how lucky can we be to be able to look at first editions, authorial notes, rare pamphlets, original prints and all the other treasures the rare books librarians keep in their mysterious enclave?

I think we should thank the staff of librarians, bibliographers and other innumerable people who enable us to have the kind of fabulous resource that Firestone is.

So by now, you understand how much of a dork I am. But I don't think it's a bad thing. Next time you have a free second, go into Firestone without any work to do. Don't think about your thesis, your JP or that paper you have due on Dean's Date. Get one of those sheets that lists the subject matter of different sections of the library. And just go to a section that interests you and aimlessly browse. See what you find. When you aren't forced to do research, I wonder if your own intellectual curiosity won't take over. Perhaps you'll find yourself sitting on the floor of the library for a while just perusing books and soaking up interesting things. Isn't this one of the reasons why you came to Princeton in the first place? John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.