Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is to make a trip to your local library.

It may have been a while since you've gone,

but this is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to bring some

serendipity into your life. Libraries are great resources but many people aren't

in the habit of using them. Even people who were probably

stopped when many libraries closed during the worst early days of the COVID pandemic.

These days, places are slowly opening back up. So it might be worth checking your

branches hours and putting a note on your calendar to stop by. Why? Well, when people are out and about less and seeing fewer people, as is the case for many of us these days,

it can be harder to bring new information into our lives. We go to the same

websites that we always do. The algorithms of social media show us a lot of the same

stuff that we've liked before.

A visit to the library can change that quickly.

I walked to my local branch the other day and noticed all sorts of flyers on the

bulletin board.

These brought a vast number of virtual events to my attention

and advertised local exhibits too.

Whether I go to any of these or not, it was interesting to think about horticulture and art and music and tutoring programs for a few minutes.

Inside the library, the librarians had arranged new releases on the front wall. It wasn't so much that I was interested in any titles in particular, but I noticed that I was immediately drawn to titles that I had seen before for some reason, usually that I had a review copy or a friend had written about the book.

I realized that familiarity breeds affection, a point that I wound up using as a newsletter topic.

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