The following contribution arrived too late to be included in the Favorite Library Contest, but that's no reason not to share it. - The Editors
I'm Sallie Palmer, and I'm 80 years old! I'm a Friend of Freddy and have been a friend of his for as long as I can remember. I started out by reading library copies, but eventually started my own collection, with the latest Freddy given to me by my parents as a birthday present every year. In recent years, thanks to Overlook Press, from which I was able to obtain copies of titles I was missing, I now have a complete set of Freddies.
I've had access to many libraries in my life, all over the world, from the huge New York Public Library down to a library run by the British Women's Club, housed in a former storage closet, in the Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi.
Today my favorite is my local library here in Largo, Florida. It was started in 1916 on the first floor of the old Town Hall by the Largo Women's Club. A total of 560 books were donated to start the library, almost one apiece for each of the town's 600 residents. Today it's located in a 90,300 squ. ft. building opened in 2002. It's the largest one in Pinellas County, except for St. Petersburg, and has a reciprocal network with the other twelve libraries in the County. It gets a steady supply of new books.
One section of the premises is rented by the local, very active, genealogical society which offers access to books, microfilm records and computer programs to its members.
It's a regular destination for me several times a week.
It does carry a few Freddy books, but should definitely have more - preferably a whole set!
