Library Pass - The Basics

The place, Irmo High School in Columbia, South Carolina.

What two words best describe my Junior(1985/85) and Senior (1986/87) years at Irmo High School?

Library Pass

A library pass had to be signed by a teacher and could get you out of study hall and into the library. I managed to score 3 Library Passes a day and spent a good portion of my Junior and Senior years in the Irmo High School Library.

Welcome to Library Pass, where I will tell true stories from the Irmo High School Library.

The Basics

The Irmo High School Library was large. There was only one entrance/exit which was right across the hall from the main office entrance.

Inside, the library was one very large room with a windowed office area in the center and with shelves, tables, chairs, and cabinets spread about. There were also a few doors leading to some sort of media-arts area in the back of the library.

I spent about 2 or 3 hours a day in the library my Junior and Senior year. For that 3 hours, friends or other students with lunch periods, study hall, and/or library passes, would come and go.

Me and my friends would usually find a big table and sit around it talking.

"Talking in the library?"

I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. The library was large, it was easy to find a spot away from any librarians, and no students were actually reading in the library, so no-one ever complained.

Even if you got too loud, all the librarians would do is look over at you menacingly.

We were not afraid. These were not real tachers, they didn't know our names, and they were too engrossed in the card catalouge to come over to our table and dispense discipline.

Aside from my Library Pass, I always made sure that I brought a very sharp pencil and some paper to the library.

I didn't use the pencil to write on the paper, the paper was for making paper airplanes.

Not those blunt-nosed loopy stunt planes, but simple, straight-forward, streamlined, sharp-tipped paper airplanes made by following the steps.



The ceiling of the library was a sort of white spongy fibre, most likely friable asbestos.

It was great fun to throw a sharp pencil, or a really sharp-nosed paper airplane, up into the ceiling to see if it would stick.

At any given time there were a number of pencils and airplanes stuck in the ceiling.

More fun than Study Hall.