When I moved to Minnesota, I didn’t spend much time at my local public library. I would drop in now and then and check out children’s books for my young kids. Every once in a while, I’d browse through the adult section, but I was more likely to head to Barnes & Noble for reading material. Little did I know back then how important the public library would become to me—not so much as a reader but as a writer. Today, the library is the first place I go for research, even if it’s