I've had a crazy busy couple of weeks. One thing I did recently was finally join the Friends of the Library. Today we sorted books to be sold at the annual fundraiser book sale. I'm talking hundreds (maybe thousands) or books donated! Pretty amazing.
So today's questions for us to chat about: What's your favorite thing about the library? Your favorite branch or person, your favorite spot in the library, your favorite memory of the library...
Please share!
I'll start! I love all the local workers at my library! They're helpful and friendly. And a couple of them are friends from my church! (Another friend works at another library, so we have several librarians among the members). I also love my church librarian! She's done a great job renovating it recently.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite memory is of going to the Book Mobile as a child. That was one of my favorite places in the summer--because it was air conditioned! I would love getting out of the heat to sit on there and read books. I can still picture it.
I've always loved libraries! It's harder to get to know the library workers these days, though. When you bring in four children at least once a week and check out tons of books, the librarians get to know you VERY well :)
ReplyDeleteAnd my favorite job ever was when I worked in the library for a couple years. Sweet memories!
But I just can't seem to control myself when it comes to checking out books. I always find way more than I could ever read before they're due. Thank goodness for on-line renewals!
hmm I love all the free books and stuff! my library system is great - they have a lot of stuff including dvds and ebooks and will do free interlibrary loans if a book is available form a participating library..I can 'suggest a title' and they email me back - they've gotten the majority of what I suggest but not everything unfortunately! the only thing I don't like is that if they dont' have a book they wont' take a donation for that particle book but will most likely put it on the FOL shelf for whatever that branch sells for - even a series book they're missing and they wont' order it if it's more than 2 yrs old unless a million request it (I guess a million put in for interlibrary loans for one of J D Robbs' books becaues they finally replaced it even though it was in the first 5 books of that series and it's an older series!)
ReplyDeletemy earliest memories include the book mobile and my mom taking us to the old memorial library near downtown (theyv'e since ditched that one and built a new modern one) that one as neat though (I love old buildings!)and nearly every time I'd check out Pony Girl til the mean library wouldn't let me because others needed a chance (each time I returned it I waited til the next visit a few weeks later seems it'd been checked out if someone wanted it) I fnally got my own copy about 12 yrs ago (and ya'll don't look up the title on amazon - turns out there's some really kinky stuff in the erotica section with that title :-( what a shocker)anyways it wasn't the same re-reading it but oh well. the neat part of the old library is that the children's section was upstairs for a long time and the stairs were very narrow - my mom went up with us but usually let us go up by ourselves for a while and look around for ourselves once we knew the rules and I felt so grownup!
Susanna
I guess I'm going to be the lone dissenter here. As much as I love the idea of libraries, I don't like them. It might be a physical thing. Just thinking of the fluorescent lights gives me a headache. More likely it's a feeling of being judged that I got as a child. Back then the library in my town didn't carry any series (like Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys) and I remember the librarian looking down on me for wanting to read them instead of real books. Isn't it amazing what an impact something like that can have on us?
ReplyDeleteNow give me a bookstore ANY day (or every day! *g*).
And since it's chat day, I just wanted to add that I'm so happy today to have this morning with my coffee, a new book (thanks to my CAROL pile) and Kav's cake. My idea of a perfect day.
Oooh, Mary, glad you made the cake and that you like it. And ouch to your young library experience. I'm a school librarian and I cringe at some of the books my students want to read but I still hand 'em over but make sure I take lots of opportunities through book chats and storytimes to get them interested in authors they might not try otherwise.
DeleteJan, I, too, am so thankful for being able to re-check online! I've used it whenever possible! I never get books read when I think I'm going to.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Susanna! I won't go look for the book. :) I'm glad you finally got to buy it. You know, I always loved the children's section in my hometown library. I didn't get to go often, since the book mobile came close to home. But it was a great place when I did get to go!
Mary, I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. Nancy Drew books were my big love, too. Isn't it amazing how much one person can affect so much in our life? It's a great reminder to treat children well because it can have such lasting effects.
Oh, and can I just say that Nancy Drew is a landmark in children's literature? She changed the juvenile lit. heroine forever. Before Nancy (I think the first one was published in 1939)boys were the ones having all the adventures in books. Girls were mostly secondary characters and on the sidelines cheering them on. B-o-r-i-n-g. Then Nancy shows up with her convertible, boyfriend who stays on the sidelines cheering her on, and all those delicious mysteries to solve. HOw many times did she save Ned anyway? You go, girl! I have both Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys in my libraries. :-)
DeleteAnd yes, I love bookstores, too! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved Nancy Drew mysteries! Remember the Secret of the Hollow Oak??? How stinkin' romantic is that????
ReplyDeleteAnd her friend George???? The girl?
And Sue Barton.... and all of the Janet Lambert books I could find and they were old then!
The library was my respite. That's where I lost myself in what if's so I carry that love for them now. And for Ben Franklin, because I'm pretty sure he was thinkin' of kids like me when he developed a lending system to service the lower classes.
God bless that man and his brain!
Missy, I've just put on a new pot of chocolate velvet, but I did just get us an order of some of The Texan's fancy shmancy tea thingamahoozits.
I'm leaving it up to you to deal with those unless she pokes her nose in, but I heard she was down the road, flirting with the guys on the road construction crew... Didja SEE that hunka-hunka burnin' love drivin' the payloader???
Good Daisy Miss Maisy, I'm near to swoon!
Ruthy, dear, I think you've found you a new book character! (but we promise not to tell Dave you're going to have to be spying for some research). :)
ReplyDeleteLove the chocolate velvet idea! Maybe after my lunch of Ruthy salad...
I'm not sure how I turned out to be such a reader, let alone a writer, because public libraries weren't a part of my early childhood experience. I know... that's outrageous. When I see my youngest granddaughters checking out 60 books at a time I realize I missed a lot. But it was a static library in an intermediate school that first caught my attention. An ordinary classroom converted into a poor excuse for a library that nobody was using because it needed serious organizing!
ReplyDeleteOne of my more recent favourite memories was made just after my retirement when I got to help set up the library in a brand new elementary school where my DD was librarian... unpacking and shelving the old books, cataloguing $30,000 worth of new books, and introducing a new computerized lending system. That was a blast!!
I have to admit that these days I'm torn between the economy of borrowing books and the passion of owning my own. I sure do hate to give back anything once I have it in my possession!
I'm a librarians worst nightmare. I confess to having an overdue book for more than a year now.
ReplyDeleteI do support libraries. Every town and school needs at least one.
Carol, that's so exciting that your daughter is a librarian! And what fun to set up a new library!
ReplyDeleteI helped label and shelve books after my kids' elementary school had a fire. Very exciting to see all the new books!
LOL, Bridgett! I'm sure if you go in now, they'll just make you pay for it. Embarrassing, but probably very common. :)
By the way, I added light red kidney beans to my Ruthy salad today. Very yummy! And added lots of fiber.
ReplyDeleteBridgett, I'm sure Missy's right.
ReplyDeleteI inherited an office once and on the bookshelf I found a bunch of overdue books that someone had been using for research. I brought them back and the library was overjoyed to have them. They did try to make me pay the fine, but I was finally able to convince them the books were not on my card.
Kidney beans, Missy????
ReplyDelete(Ruthy inquired, solicitously)... "Might we be glad we're meeting virtually, forthwith???"
Oh, Bridgett, we've all done it! Oy, I remember my kids searching the house because the librarian at school was sure to EAT THEM ALIVE because a book was late.
Now if you're late on your e-reader, they just lock you out of borrowing, or something, right?
Oh, the days of virtual reality upon us! Pretty soon they'll be able to remotely lock our TV signal or refrigerator handle if we mess up.
That would make me very sad! And somewhat skinny, LOL, because I mess up all the time!
LOLOL, Ruthy! Yes, be glad it's virtually. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, on the e-books at the library, from what I gather, the book just disappears, so no worries there!
Okay, so y'all know I'm a school librarian and then, in case I might get bored I work part-time in a college library too so you might say I'm just a tad passionate about libraries!!!! I think I was born in one...well actually down the road from one and I lived in the library my whole childhood. Books raised me when my parents couldn't. God bless all those authors who set me on the right path!!!
ReplyDeleteI love to read and enjoy passing my books on to my church library(265 in last 3 yrs.). We do have a nice county library...newly renovated....and I pass books on to them as well.
ReplyDeleteKav, I totally forgot that as I wrote my post! I should have said we were discussing libraries in your honor today! :)
ReplyDeleteJackie, thank you for passing our books along!