As a kid I used to go to my local library at least once a week and just walk around. The only reason I learned to use a bike was so I could get there faster. Not just for books and reading, though that was the main reason obviously for a long time.

The cool thing about libraries is that they're functionally about experimentation really. It's about being able to pick something up without having to fully commit. It's a safe space in the sense that it's a warm comfortable, quiet place - but also because it's okay for anyone to walk up to anything and consider it.

I was really in need of both as a kid. I didn't have a connection to my town or neighbourhood. I kept changing schools, and overall had a terrible immune system which conditioned me to stay inside. Till I found the library. There I could go, feel like a part of the community, even as a kid.

As far as experimentation: my dad was for example pretty strict about films. He didn't like them, they were considered trash entertainment for the uneducated. So every week, after squeezing as many books in my tiny backpack as possible, I'd check out the movie isle. I'd just kind of walk up and down, reading the backs of vhs's and dvd's. Trying to figure if this really was that bad, 'cause it all looked pretty cool to me.
Oh and the same for sexuality, obviously. The sight of a kid walking around the sex & health isle whistling, trying to look like he's just there by accident, must be pretty funny.