Library Gripes

Remember back in the day when you checked a book out of the library and they stamped it so you would know when it’s due?

And remember even before that when you checked a book out of the library, you had to sign the card next to the date?

It’s little touches like these that I miss about modern libraries. In modern libraries, the continuity of readership is snipped before its inception by removing any evidence of past readers from the physical book.

An e-reader crisis for this book lover

Oh man. The New York Public Library has finally jumped on board the good ship Kindle and is now offering Kindle-format books for e-borrowing.

I’ve always been a bit divided about e-readers, coming down mostly on the opposed side. I understand their convenience, particularly when it comes to travel and standing-subway-reading, but I also can’t quite swallow the loss of the physical appeal of books. I like their spines and pages and typography far too much to cave to e-readers yet.

That said, this news about the library is sorely testing my resolve not to buy a Kindle!

Brenda Moon is dead

Brenda Moon is dead. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so bereft at the loss of a stranger as when I flipped casually through the latest issue of The Book Collector and unsuspectingly tripped over the obituary for one Brenda Moon. I read the words and thought, Brenda Moon is dead even without processing what that really meant. I couldn’t believe it. After years of futilely searching for her and academically aching to know who this mysterious kindred spirit was, it all ended in the middle of a class dealing with examples of bibliographic journals when The Book Collector was flippantly tossed at me by the tutor. And there Brenda Moon was. Dead. Search over.

Weekly Geeks: Checking Out Libraries

The Long Room, part of Trinity College's Old Library (courtesy of tcd.ie)

I love libraries. Always have, always will. One of the first serious political arguments I had with my father was about how libraries are necessities and that even a staunch Libertarian like himself should be able to see that if libraries ever disappear, so will society.

I grew up about three blocks from our local library, but when I turned ten or so my parents began taking my sister and I to the Central branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library twenty minutes away. This library, though small I’m sure in comparison with the central libraries of most other cities, seemed like a Book Utopia for my sister and I. There was a room — a whole room! — just filled with children’s books, and when I got older, I’d spend hours just wandering the first and second floors, grabbing any book that looked interesting.

The Central Library wasn’t the only library love I’ve had through the years.

Clip Show!

Time for another edition of the web’s finest offerings (or at the very least some of the things I liked reading this week) of literary news and clips! Feel free to add any articles that grabbed your attention this week in the comments section.

Hey, Universe, can you combine three trends that annoy me into one thing that super-annoys me? What’s that? You’ve made an anime-inspired Twilight graphic novel for teenagers? Perfect. Thanks, Universe.

In contrast, the Chronicle has an article about a library who wanted to banish its humanities holdings to an off-site storage facility and how the humanities fought back! I think it makes an interesting point about how libraries decide what is available, how easily, and to whom. Could this be considered a form of book censorship?

Libraries and Bookstores

Since I got a job, I have become something of a bookstore addict. When I first started blogging at Literary Transgressions, I admitted my addiction as my transgression/introduction to the blogosphere. Bookstores are great in terms of building a personal collection, but not so great for the local library or the ole pocketbook.

Recently, in an effort to afford graduate school, I’ve once again begun frequenting my local branch library (delightfully called the Ottendorfer!). And I’ve got to say, it has been a dream. There are few things that can equal the pleasure of browsing the library shelves with nothing particular in mind. There are new worlds you don’t even know about and then come around a corner and must face. There are books and authors and things you’ve never heard of, but which you will grow to love. For some reason, the sheer multitude of books published and available strikes me most vividly in libraries rather than bookstores. Libraries are remarkably full of possibilities and I am currently reveling in discovering as many of them as I can before I leave for graduate school.

What about you? Where do you go to get your books? And does that place offer you something more than just something to read?

On Your Shelf?

As you may have noticed, in the upper right-hand corner of Literary Transgressions, we have a little section called “On the Shelf” where we tell you what we have our our shelves and thus what we expect to be posting about in the near future.

I recently reorganized my actual, non-digital shelf (too many piles of books!) and, after said reorganization, it got me wondering what you have on your shelf and how you organize it.