“First Visit – Visiting the Library What do you think of when you hear the word library? Is a library a large repository of books? Is a library a place where students can access computers and other equipment? Is a library a quiet place where you can lose yourself in whatever task you choose: reading, researching, or studying? What makes a library a “library”? My visit to the Michell Memorial Library simultaneously answered and posed further investigation into the questions posed above. I had a preconceived idea of ​​what a library should be: quiet, dull and uninteresting. But the imposing five-story structure made me question my definition of what a library could be. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay I woke up early Wednesday morning at dawn and rode my bike to the Hardy Road entrance. I heard the Mississippi State Library was impressive, but I started the tour with the "I won't believe it until I see it" mentality. I can confidently say that the size of the building alone left me fascinated. I asked myself, “If the building itself is so big, what could fit inside?” » As I explored the building, I found spacious study rooms, state-of-the-art computer labs and of course a huge selection of books. I was kind of expecting to find these things, but I wasn't prepared for the MaxxSouth Digital Media Center and its 3D printers and VR hardware. There was nothing boring about the installation; the building was very quiet, which may have been disconcerting for some, but I found the silence enriched my experience. The relative lack of noise helped me focus on the task at hand: searching for materials in the Special Collections Room. The research itself was not special; I sat down with my phone, pencil, and binder and made myself comfortable. I prepared myself for the long and tedious process of archival research, but the time passed more quickly than I expected. One moment I was putting my stuff in the lockers, and the next moment I was giving back my locker key. The time frame I experienced was not specific to my visit to the Michell Memorial Library. While working on the capstone project for my high school composition class, I immersed myself in the subject, the media's portrayal of computer hacking and its effects on the practice of programming, to the point that I was reading for pleasure at place to do research on the subject. In this respect, the research I conducted in Special Collections was no different from my experience with research-based writing. However, the protocols and restrictions put in place by staff increased the importance not only of the project itself, but also of the items stored in the archive. In the past, my research was detached and impersonal, but this experience required that I actively participate in the act of research: locating relevant articles, copying those articles, and making logical assumptions about where similar articles might be found . As a result, my trip to the Special Collections broadened my research tools. I would dive headfirst into a research project and let what I read form the topic of my paper. I have since learned that effective research is intentional and systematic. Overall, my visit to the library, or more specifically to the collections.