Today, the class I'm taking on medieval and early modern books met not on campus, but at the Multnomah County Library.

There, tucked away in a loft that is accessible to the public only 14 hours a week, was the John Wilson Rare Book Collection.

The space is intimate, well-furnished, warm, and above all quiet. This is the space where I will be working weekly on one of three early books I chose (just which one I will be allowed, I'm not sure since multiple people have no doubt requested the same texts and the professor is taking his sweet time getting back to us).

I look forward to coming to this space to work and study. Better still if I get my first choice, a 13th century copy of Peter the Lombard's commentary on the Book of Psalms. While my Latin is not very good at all, it is the book as an object we are emphasizing since most of these texts exist in translated copies elsewhere in the body of scholarly literature.

I never thought I'd ever be this excited to be alone in a quiet room.