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It's National Library Week and the perfect time to shower our public libraries with love. They are amazing gateways to knowledge for everyone in the community. I'd like to thank my own local library (Rogers Public Library) for allowing me to take photos and giving me some input for this blog.

The world is changing and libraries are changing with it. When I spoke with my local library before writing this article there was a big emphasis on the changes that libraries are currently undergoing. They're expanding to include more and more digital content and electronic resources. If you haven't visited your library in a while you might be surprised at what they offer. It's time to drop by and see what's new. Here are five ways you can show your library some love!

Yes, it's a Christmas movie, but we love it.

The month of April heralds the start of the spring and summer holiday season. And, as everyone knows, the holiday season means one thing: family get-togethers.

If you don’t celebrate Easter or Passover and get to skip those family gatherings, chances are that, between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day in May and then Father’s Day in June, at some point in the near future you will be expected at a family dinner. For some, this news might be cause for celebration! What’s better than family and good food, especially when it’s finally nice outside? BUT for others, these past few sentences may have unleashed a storm of anxiety and fear.

From outrageous relatives to food disasters, family gatherings carry the potential to go south very quickly. Before you rush to come up with a list of excuses for why you’ll be busy for the next three months, take a peek at The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Life for tips on how to survive (and maybe even enjoy) your next family visit.

Easter is this weekend. Me, I'm heading home to run around my house looking for Easter baskets and plastic eggs with my little nephews. Over the years, the difficulty in finding Easter swag at my parents' home has escalated from the obvious to the damn near impossible.

When I was five, the Easter baskets would sit in the middle of the living room. When I turned 30, they hid my basket under a loose board in the attic, which led to a lovecraftian portal to the nether realms. I found the basket, but was gone for thirty seven years in the Old Ones' time. I'm not sure where I was, but I am their king now.

But I digress. 

I've decided to celebrate here at Quirk, and I've hidden four Easter eggs around the Quirk Books website. They look that one, right there. If you find an Easter egg on the bottom of a page, there is a hidden Rafflecopter for you to enter, with some sweet bookish swag you can win.

Here are your hints!

One: It's the end of the world as we know it, and I solve crime. 

Two: Something Wookie this way comes… 

Three: Come on man, you should know this stuff! 

Four: I got a fever, and the prescription… is more cowbell. 

Good luck! 

Whither clipart? The ubiquitous, cartoonily slapdash style of grab-n-go graphics has faded into technological memory as fast as the ZIP disk (case in point: my first clipart library was stored ON a ZIP disk).

But no more! Clipart deserves to be an immortal art form, and what better way to make it so than by pairing it with deathless works of classic literature? (Don't roll your eyes—this is a Very Good Idea.) Here are seven new clipped-up covers, in all their garish glory.

(Image via flickr)

The Hollywood Library—Hollywood being a neighborhood in Portland, not the Hollywood—was a home away from home when I was young. The building’s exterior had a very 1960s red mosaic tile, and inside was a drinking fountain epic for its strong flow and cool water. Light poured in from huge windows; in my memory the lights are always off in the library and the sun just pours in, though that can’t possibly be true in rainy Portland. The librarians were friendly but matter-of-fact—even as a hyperactive child I knew the library was no place for being rambunctious.

Via New York Public Library's Facebook

Libraries have always been an important part of my life. When I was younger, going to the library was a regular occurrence for my family. Since we lived in New York City, there were a few of them that we would frequent and each one was special in its own right. The one closest to us had three floors and I remember climbing up and down those stairs to the different levels, each section brimming with books.

This was the first library I became familiar with and I can still picture it even though I haven’t been there in a very long time. One thing I’ll never forget is the feeling when a librarian guides you to the book you had inquired about, takes it off the shelf, and puts it in your hands. It’s a magical transaction, like being given a ticket to journey to another world.

The library of my teenage years was in a turn of the century Carnegie building and also the largest library in my borough. One time, I spent hours there with my father collecting data for a science project, something that would have taken a fraction of the time if the internet had existed, but it’s a happy memory that I would not have had if that were the case. When I was old enough, I went there by myself to work on research projects for school, looking for resources as I navigated the stacks.