Marilyn Manson and Axl Rose in the library catalogue

The public library in Aachen is one of the ugliest buildings imaginable. The 1970’s proliferation of concrete definitely left its traces. No matter of the weather, inside there was always the light of a rainy November day. To get there, one had to step across the the bus station which was known for its notorious smell of urine and for syringes on the floor. Not exactly where you would want your teenage daughter to hang out every Saturday, to be honest.

Nevertheless, my mother happily gave me the signature for the library card. She was relieved that I asked for a library card and not for a belly button piercing, I think. So, I got inside with my shiny and new library card and I started to browse the shelves. At the age of 12 I had no clue about Literature. So, I started with books which had been turned into those movies that I wasn’t allowed to watch. Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery, The Silence of the Lambs you name it.

My parents didn’t really care what I read as long as I brought home books instead of boys. They completely lost track when I discovered the English Book sections and tried to read John Irving’s Hotel New Hampshire in the original version.

On the forth floor, there was the music section. One could borrow CDs, and honestly, I often copied them to tapes, I hope I’m not getting sued for this confession. I still have those tapes in my basement but I have no tape recorder to play them anymore. There was also sheet music and my piano teacher's disappointment was big as my excitement when I found the notation sheets for November Rain by Guns’n’Roses. It was not what my she had wanted me to play, but at least it made me practise every day.

In 1999, the public library became innovative and introduced the highlight of the latest technology – the internet. An hour costed 5 Marks, I think I spent all my pocket money and all of my Thursday afternoons there. The Internet brought world to a girl in the backstreets of this country's western periphery: I could find out the newest gossip about my favourite rock stars, print out the lyrics of their songs, write emails to people in the USA or to my friends from across the street.

My father always said that I was crazy. He thought it was all about printing things out and he could go online at his workplace and get me the things I wanted. But he neglected the excitement of having the world at my fingertips. Besides, could I really make my father print out the lyrics of Marilyn Manson’s The Dope Show?

So, what did the public library in Aachen do to me? Horror novels and rock music with submissive lyrics, hanging out in a poor quarter of town regularly, becoming a music pirate? Well, when I first came to university, I had long been used to travelling to the world of libraries.