With as much as I love to read, it is really quite amazing that I had forgotten how good a library feels- or at least thought it wouldn't have the same kind of effect on me.
This past week I went there to do some further research into heroes, protagonists, and our perceptions of them, and before I made it to the humanities section, I did some wondering around. Granted, part of this was merely because I was lost. The Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore is a pretty good size, but gets a little complicated once you realize is it actually more than one building which only connect on the first floor... Anyway, I enjoyed every second of it.
Something inside me just shifts when I enter a place piled with literature.
At any rate when I did make it to the humanities section and asked a librarian for help (as the online catalog was offering very little of it) and, after a series of questions and guesses, she led me to the perfect aisle, I spent nearly an hour just sitting there pulling book after book before actually beginning to take any notes, which I did at a large wooden table in a small quiet room occupied by only two others.
The very old air conditioning system was being worked on but despite it being 104 outside, I was quite comfortable in my sundress perched on my low stool, a pile of books in front of me.
I suddenly wondered why I didn't do this more often. It wasn't the first time it popped up. Certainly I wondered why I didn't have a library card when I saw the massive collection of audio books I could rent for free if I did have a card. Movies too. And of course me realizing I have lived here for 4 years now and damn well should have one anyway.
I still don't by the way, as my drivers license doesn't have my current address on it. I'll be more prepared next time.
But really. WHY? Why had I not visited sooner? Gotten a card? I would make the paltry excuse that, having been in grad school, I had access to a university library and had no need for it. Though to be honest. I hadn't used that library either. All the books I needed I bought and as most of my academic reading was critical essays that I accessed through my professor's free online accounts, there was never really a need. Though I did go once and use their computers to move files from all those floppy disks I still had...
I could blame not using my library on the fact that I decided I one day wanted to have my own personal library and that to do that, I'd just need to start buying the books I was reading. A build it over time kind of thing. And granted, this was a large part of it. It still is, but as I proved to myself this past Thursday, there were certainly other reasons to go to the library- if not for research and audio books, for the atmosphere.
In fact, until moving to Baltimore I had frequented libraries. First the Collinsville Library near where I lived, then my university library. So why the change? Was it merely initiating the relationship? I did go there two years ago and heard Junot Dias speak, among other things, but that was quite a lively event and the library was quite crowded, and I stayed to the areas without stacks.
In truth, I have no answer. I don't know.
It hasn't been a week and I already want to go back- not just because I have more research to do- but because I just want to be there again. I just want to sit in that quiet, open room with all those books and the other people reading and searching. I want to run my fingers along their spines and feel lost and forgotten among the stacks. I want to sink back and forget the world, my head dipped into a book, and for no one to walk by and find it curious or feel the need to interrupt me.
In many ways the recent moving to e-readers makes sense. Besides being quick, light, and convenient, the major attachment one makes to a piece of writing is mental. The words, images, ideas, and feelings are what matter, not the medium. It doesn't matter if it is on a screen, a printed page, notebook paper, or scrawled on the back of a park bench; if it moves you, connects, makes you think, that is all that matters, really. But for me, there has always been a physical attachment as well.
I've made no secret on my blog that I like to wear my books out. I like to give them little battle scars that are evidence of the journey we shared. I've said before that the design and heft of a book are something to be admired, but I also enjoy the feel of the pages between my fingers, the size and shape and feel of the book creating memories in a different way.
And perhaps it is this physical attachment that gives my body such a shifting feeling when I walk into a bookstore or library, though admittedly each location does feel different. The bookstore is like wading through a shallow bath where the library is like a deep sea dive.
Books stores, though also pleasant, don't give me quite the sense of peace and security that libraries do. Maybe it is because books are being advertised. Maybe because they are labeled best sellers or recommended. Maybe because the price on their back has too great an effect of your relationship with them.
But at the library, they're not trying to sell you anything. They're not trying to suggest this book over that book, because you can read them all. They are there for you. They don't look new. They look used. Because they are used. There is evidence that they are used, are loved. That they have served a purpose and can again. There is nothing there but the literature. No coffee. No salesmen. No pesky people implying you shouldn't linger or read too long. Just books. Just you. Just an open invitation to interact.
Though it is a free country, maybe we don't really need bookstores. Maybe we only need libraries and if someone wants to buy and own a book, they can simply buy it from the library. As long as the focus would remain more library setting than store setting. Purchasing being an option, not a driving cause of existence. (and they do sell books at the library, but not how I mean.)
It is likely that won't happen, and I do feel that there is a place for both in the world. There needs to be.
I will also admit that Border's closing has also initiating a lot of this thought. Borders, though a bookstore, somehow managed to capture for me just a slice of the library feel. Literature seemed important in there. Their large competitor, Barnes and Noble, never quite generated that effect.
I could say more, having worked for B&N University Stores, but I'm probably not allowed. Let's just say that their approach to literature and what to purchase is quite streamlined and not at all how one should actually go about selling literature. It is kind of like how the Hollywood is whoring out movies. But that is a different matter entirely, even if movies are a form of literature.
I am sad to see Borders go and I would be sadder if B&N then comes to dominate alone with no larger entity stepping up for at least the sake of good competition. But the thought I find really interesting is that - once the liquidation sales are through- maybe this is an opportunity. Maybe this will give people a chance to reevaluate where they get books. To visit their library or the local bookstore. Because- and I must be clear- though small bookshops are still stores and don't quite hit the feeling of a library, the right ones are far, far closer. They're at least a dive, if not a deep sea dive.
In other words, maybe this is a chance to return to seeking literature for the sake of literature and not the sake of popularity or sales.
At the very least people need to realize that there is all that FREE education out there. Reputable sources too. There are so many reasons to use your local library I could probably write a research paper on it, or a book even. But I'll keep this blog brief, and to the point of feeling alone.
If you haven't been to your library in awhile, you should really go. Just wander in. You don't need an aim. Just wander in and start looking. Start reading. Start interacting. You'll really be surprised what you will find.
Libraries are also in danger. Though it is not likely they will disappear like Borders did, on a smaller scale many of them do. This is a matter that hopefully, after visiting again, you will find as puzzling as I do.
I don't think it is that we don't need them any more or that they don't have anything to offer that the internet can't (cause they do).
I think it is simply that we have forgotten them.
This past week I went there to do some further research into heroes, protagonists, and our perceptions of them, and before I made it to the humanities section, I did some wondering around. Granted, part of this was merely because I was lost. The Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore is a pretty good size, but gets a little complicated once you realize is it actually more than one building which only connect on the first floor... Anyway, I enjoyed every second of it.
Something inside me just shifts when I enter a place piled with literature.
At any rate when I did make it to the humanities section and asked a librarian for help (as the online catalog was offering very little of it) and, after a series of questions and guesses, she led me to the perfect aisle, I spent nearly an hour just sitting there pulling book after book before actually beginning to take any notes, which I did at a large wooden table in a small quiet room occupied by only two others.
The very old air conditioning system was being worked on but despite it being 104 outside, I was quite comfortable in my sundress perched on my low stool, a pile of books in front of me.
I suddenly wondered why I didn't do this more often. It wasn't the first time it popped up. Certainly I wondered why I didn't have a library card when I saw the massive collection of audio books I could rent for free if I did have a card. Movies too. And of course me realizing I have lived here for 4 years now and damn well should have one anyway.
I still don't by the way, as my drivers license doesn't have my current address on it. I'll be more prepared next time.
But really. WHY? Why had I not visited sooner? Gotten a card? I would make the paltry excuse that, having been in grad school, I had access to a university library and had no need for it. Though to be honest. I hadn't used that library either. All the books I needed I bought and as most of my academic reading was critical essays that I accessed through my professor's free online accounts, there was never really a need. Though I did go once and use their computers to move files from all those floppy disks I still had...
I could blame not using my library on the fact that I decided I one day wanted to have my own personal library and that to do that, I'd just need to start buying the books I was reading. A build it over time kind of thing. And granted, this was a large part of it. It still is, but as I proved to myself this past Thursday, there were certainly other reasons to go to the library- if not for research and audio books, for the atmosphere.
In fact, until moving to Baltimore I had frequented libraries. First the Collinsville Library near where I lived, then my university library. So why the change? Was it merely initiating the relationship? I did go there two years ago and heard Junot Dias speak, among other things, but that was quite a lively event and the library was quite crowded, and I stayed to the areas without stacks.
In truth, I have no answer. I don't know.
It hasn't been a week and I already want to go back- not just because I have more research to do- but because I just want to be there again. I just want to sit in that quiet, open room with all those books and the other people reading and searching. I want to run my fingers along their spines and feel lost and forgotten among the stacks. I want to sink back and forget the world, my head dipped into a book, and for no one to walk by and find it curious or feel the need to interrupt me.
In many ways the recent moving to e-readers makes sense. Besides being quick, light, and convenient, the major attachment one makes to a piece of writing is mental. The words, images, ideas, and feelings are what matter, not the medium. It doesn't matter if it is on a screen, a printed page, notebook paper, or scrawled on the back of a park bench; if it moves you, connects, makes you think, that is all that matters, really. But for me, there has always been a physical attachment as well.
I've made no secret on my blog that I like to wear my books out. I like to give them little battle scars that are evidence of the journey we shared. I've said before that the design and heft of a book are something to be admired, but I also enjoy the feel of the pages between my fingers, the size and shape and feel of the book creating memories in a different way.
And perhaps it is this physical attachment that gives my body such a shifting feeling when I walk into a bookstore or library, though admittedly each location does feel different. The bookstore is like wading through a shallow bath where the library is like a deep sea dive.
Books stores, though also pleasant, don't give me quite the sense of peace and security that libraries do. Maybe it is because books are being advertised. Maybe because they are labeled best sellers or recommended. Maybe because the price on their back has too great an effect of your relationship with them.
But at the library, they're not trying to sell you anything. They're not trying to suggest this book over that book, because you can read them all. They are there for you. They don't look new. They look used. Because they are used. There is evidence that they are used, are loved. That they have served a purpose and can again. There is nothing there but the literature. No coffee. No salesmen. No pesky people implying you shouldn't linger or read too long. Just books. Just you. Just an open invitation to interact.
Though it is a free country, maybe we don't really need bookstores. Maybe we only need libraries and if someone wants to buy and own a book, they can simply buy it from the library. As long as the focus would remain more library setting than store setting. Purchasing being an option, not a driving cause of existence. (and they do sell books at the library, but not how I mean.)
It is likely that won't happen, and I do feel that there is a place for both in the world. There needs to be.
I will also admit that Border's closing has also initiating a lot of this thought. Borders, though a bookstore, somehow managed to capture for me just a slice of the library feel. Literature seemed important in there. Their large competitor, Barnes and Noble, never quite generated that effect.
I could say more, having worked for B&N University Stores, but I'm probably not allowed. Let's just say that their approach to literature and what to purchase is quite streamlined and not at all how one should actually go about selling literature. It is kind of like how the Hollywood is whoring out movies. But that is a different matter entirely, even if movies are a form of literature.
I am sad to see Borders go and I would be sadder if B&N then comes to dominate alone with no larger entity stepping up for at least the sake of good competition. But the thought I find really interesting is that - once the liquidation sales are through- maybe this is an opportunity. Maybe this will give people a chance to reevaluate where they get books. To visit their library or the local bookstore. Because- and I must be clear- though small bookshops are still stores and don't quite hit the feeling of a library, the right ones are far, far closer. They're at least a dive, if not a deep sea dive.
In other words, maybe this is a chance to return to seeking literature for the sake of literature and not the sake of popularity or sales.
At the very least people need to realize that there is all that FREE education out there. Reputable sources too. There are so many reasons to use your local library I could probably write a research paper on it, or a book even. But I'll keep this blog brief, and to the point of feeling alone.
If you haven't been to your library in awhile, you should really go. Just wander in. You don't need an aim. Just wander in and start looking. Start reading. Start interacting. You'll really be surprised what you will find.
Libraries are also in danger. Though it is not likely they will disappear like Borders did, on a smaller scale many of them do. This is a matter that hopefully, after visiting again, you will find as puzzling as I do.
I don't think it is that we don't need them any more or that they don't have anything to offer that the internet can't (cause they do).
I think it is simply that we have forgotten them.
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