Libraries

[b52bob]

I used to love going to libraries.

Here's my recent expirience at the Phoenix library:

Kids running around playing tag and yelling.
Babies all over the place crying and screaming.
Lines of homeless people waiting to get in
Rest rooms filthy and stinky
Homeless people lined up to take showers in the sink.
Pee and torn up toilet paper in the rest rooms
and it goes on and on......

What ever happened to the quiet place that a person could sit down and read a book. Guess I'm getting old and crochety but at least I may get a discount on a new plane!

Bob

[aeronca1]

Same just about everywhere I go as well. I travel a lot now and spend some time in libraries when I can't get wireless in cheap m/hotels I stay at.

I hate to say it, but the homeless constitute most of the problems. They respect nothing and often tie up washrooms forever washing both themselves and their clothes. God only knows what they leave behind........

[rhumbaflappy]

I remember going to the Library as a kid on Saturdays, and coming home with a small pile of books. The Library was QUIET, cool on a hot day ( all the stone and concrete of the impressive building ), and oozed an adult atmosphere... you were expected to act in an adult manner. That was the late 50's and early 60's. I rejoice that I was lucky enough to have that childhood experience. I mourn for the loss, and I mourn for the poor homeless as well. Dick

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

I used to love going to the library as a kid - so many good books. How well I remember sitting in a corner reading one Hardy Boys book after another.

A couple months ago I was looking at some old books I have carried around with me and found one I checked out in 1973 and uh somehow it never got returned as we moved to another state. :icon_lol:

-Ed-

[Piglet]

Easy Ed,
I just saw a guy come to your house with a bill for $17,932!
B52Bob,
Luckily, my local library is still a decent place to go to. Some bums on the lawns, but they stay there. Some of the computer users look scary, but harmless (so far).
Best of all is their extensive Jane's ref collection.

[Daveroo]

im not going to turn this political...but if it werent for a certin california actor turned govner turned president who closed all the mental institues first in cal and then nationwide,,the homeless situation wouldnt have gotten so bad...and now theyre talking about killing off the socieal security program ? SSA/SSI/SSD millions of new homeless will be on the streets including ME!

[CWOJackson]

im not going to turn this political...but if it werent for a certin california actor turned govner turned president who closed all the mental institues first in cal and then nationwide,,the homeless situation wouldnt have gotten so bad...and now theyre talking about killing off the socieal security program ? SSA/SSI/SSD millions of new homeless will be on the streets including ME!

I'm so glad you're not taking it political.

[Daveroo]

I'm so glad you're not taking it political.

lol yeah...

[Jagdflieger]

We all know where this is probably going. It's probably not a good idea to pretend something isn't political when it actuality it is.

Enough said.

[AndyG43]

Always been like that, to an extent, in London at least; public libraries, with their warm, dry reading rooms, are (and probably always will be) a favoured haunt for down & outs - been like that since I was a kid and likely before I was born.

[rpjkw]

I remember going to the Library as a kid on Saturdays, and coming home with a small pile of books. The Library was QUIET, cool on a hot day ( all the stone and concrete of the impressive building ), and oozed an adult atmosphere... you were expected to act in an adult manner. That was the late 50's and early 60's. I rejoice that I was lucky enough to have that childhood experience. I mourn for the loss, and I mourn for the poor homeless as well. Dick

Same here. Every Saturday afternoon would find me at our library branch since it was within bike riding distance. Later as a teenager, I rode the bus downtown and came back with a pot load of books. Today, I have NO idea how I got them all home. BTW they were all aviation related.

Bob

[CybrSlydr]

Hey All,

I used to love going to the library as a kid - so many good books. How well I remember sitting in a corner reading one Hardy Boys book after another.

A couple months ago I was looking at some old books I have carried around with me and found one I checked out in 1973 and uh somehow it never got returned as we moved to another state. :icon_lol:

-Ed-When I was younger (lol), during one summer, I read the entire Hardy Boys series my library had - over 100 books. I checked them out 10 at a time and gobbled them up.o
One of the things I loved about my home libeprary was the smell. I love the smell of paper on a book.

[brad kaste]

...Fortunately,....in my neck of the woods the locals libraries are still highly monitored without the bedlam that many current libraries have to deal with. In fact, the one library 6 blocks from the house has a lower level,....read that 'basement'....exclusively set up for the youngsters. The rug rats can make all the noise they want down there. That's if it's allowed.......

[Jagdflieger]

I too have always loved libraries. I guess that's why I married a teacher specializing in reading! Both our kids are avid readers and much of that interest no doubt came from our visits to the library and the adventures that we found in the books there.

I live farily far out from the closest large city, so I haven't noticed the problem with my local branch library. My sympathies to those of you suffering the problems mentioned.

On a sad note, I just went to the local Borders book store yesterday with the wife and daughter. What a shame that the company is going out of business. I guess technology may just put the printed page out of circulation at sometime down the road. At any rate, we found several books at half price while there.

Cyber,

Be sure to visit the base library there at Fort Hood. Military libraries have a great selection of books of interest to soldiers.

[CWOJackson]

On a sad note, I just went to the local Borders book store yesterday with the wife and daughter. What a shame that the company is going out of business. I guess technology may just put the printed page out of circulation at sometime down the road. At any rate, we found several books at half price while there.



Maybe it's just me but it seems like there are fewer and fewer authors these days and of those there are, many of them seem to write the same themes (how many variations of the Di Vinci Code has then been now) and some of the older author's books are now (poorly) written by ghost writers.

I'm of the opinion "reading", like "writing", is a dying art form; replaced by reality TV and texting.

[CybrSlydr]

I'm a purist. Electronic readers are great for convinience and all, but I love the tactile feel of turning a page, the crinkle of the paper and binding... Electronic is just too sterile.

My home library services a town of less than 1000. We dont have a homeless problem and I love our library. Very well kept.

[warchild]

When I was younger (lol), during one summer, I read the entire Hardy Boys series my library had - over 100 books. I checked them out 10 at a time and gobbled them up.o
One of the things I loved about my home libeprary was the smell. I love the smell of paper on a book.

Hardy Boys never held a candle to Nancy Drew ::chuckles:: yeahh, I miss the old Carnegie libraries too.. They were a bit intimidating, but you could always find such wonderful things to fill your mind with..

[CybrSlydr]

Come now, warchild, I was a BOY, only GIRLS with cooties read Nancy Drew. I mean, seriously, Nancy or FRANK and JOE? :D

In an effort at clarifying, I read The Hardy Boys Casefiles.

[Jagdflieger]

Nice recal Pam.

Andrew Carnegie, an early captain of industry and steel tycoon, donated the money to build over 1,600 libraries in the United States. What an enduring legacy from a man born to near poverty!

Some of my favorite books from youth were:

Away all Boats.
HMS Ulysis
The Compass Rose
Helmet for my Pillow
With the Old Breed
The Four Feathers
Devils in Baggy Pants
The Hurtgen Forrest
A Time to Love, A Time to Die (Best read in German)
Im Westen, Nicht Neues or All Quiet on the Western Front (again, best read in German)

I guess from that list you can see where I was headed in life...

Oh, and do you guys remember the big cabinets holding the card indexes? The computer data base in now faster and easier, but just doesn't have the class of those old oak filing cabinets that were so carefully attended by the librarians.

[warchild]

I read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne, HG wells ::sigh:: miss those types of moments. We never had Biggles over here though, so i never met him till this really bad movie came out.. Since then, he's been on my list of books to read, even if he IS for young English Lads..
:)

[CybrSlydr]

Ah yes, the card catalogue!

[AndyG43]

I read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne, HG wells ::sigh:: miss those types of moments. We never had Biggles over here though, so i never met him till this really bad movie came out.. Since then, he's been on my list of books to read, even if he IS for young English Lads..
:)

We never really had the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew over here, nearest I came to them in my younger days was watching the old Mickey Rooney films!! In my mid-20s I ran the childrens book section of Harrods, and that was the first time I actually saw the books, as we stokced them for visiting Americans. I guess our equivalent was Enid Blyton, who catered from a range of ages, with books from "Noddy" to "The Famous Five"; she may have been an elitist, racist, sexist bigot (or, in other words, a typical upper middle class Edwardian lady), but her books were still just as popular in the 1980s.

I was a voracious reader, read trash & classics alike; Blyton, Conan Doyle, Grahame ... it didn't matter to me. I'm not sure I agree with the gloomy prognostication that reading is a dying art; my 18 year old son, who is a major gadget freak, has no time for iPads/Kindles, he much prefers the tactility of a real book. But fashions change, and a lot of the books I read as a child were no longer available; the "Uncle" books, Andre Norton, Buckeridge's "Jennings"; he had Dahl (an odd man, who I once had the great privilege of meeting, and holding a very interesting conversation), the same classics, Clarke & Asimov (he finds them boring too), (inevitably) Harry Potter and as he grew older, Terry Pratchett.

I was never a fan of Borders (the chain died here a year or so back), but do have a soft spot for Waterstones & hope that it's new Russian owner will treat it with respect. The book trade is suffering, but the proper balance of online/bricks & mortar will survive, I think. We have some good independent booksellers in London, some of whom have survived by exploiting particular niches; Daunt Books, with their focus on travel writing, are very successful. The library service in the UK is under threat, with funding beng very tight (not going to get political either, but I think this is a short sighted approach), but I hope it will weather the storm.

My dream is to win the lottery, and then run my own bookshop. I have a wonderful role model in mind .....


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5796834142042868632#

[rpjkw]

I'm a purist. Electronic readers are great for convinience and all, but I love the tactile feel of turning a page, the crinkle of the paper and binding... Electronic is just too sterile.

My home library services a town of less than 1000. We dont have a homeless problem and I love our library. Very well kept.

My wife has been trying to talk me into getting a Kindle, and I keep telling her not to waste the money: I'm a diehard 'traditionalist.

I currently have almost 700 hardback books in my library and I consider each and every one a cherished friend. Not a single book can be replaced by an electronic gadget, even if "everyone is using them". There's nothing like the feel of a book.

Bob

[warchild]

I'm a traditionalist as well. Nothing like a book to get you away from the whirring fans and buzzing machines that pervade the majority of daily lives.. Having something i can put up on the big screen and read clearly the first time with no trouble is a very nice thing, but it kills the soul of the book and reading itself, and becomes little more than a cold heartless way of transferring data to the mind. The touch and feel of each page and the not knowing whats on the next as you slowly digest each word in what is becoming a rare moment of sheer luxury is one of the greatest sensations in life..

[n4gix]

Oh, I think that the printed word is still going strong, and will be for some time to come yet. The death of brick-and-mortar stores is more the result of having the ability to order from an on-line source such as Amazon, and enjoy fast -often free- delivery...

...and oftimes as much as 50% off "MSRP" on top of that!

I just ordered a new release of Eric Flints' "1636: The Saxon Uprising" from Amazon day before yesterday. It was delivered to my doorstep yesterday afternoon (less than 24hrs!)...

...for a measley $15.85 (MSRP: $25 + tax)

After reading, I donate all hardcovers to my local library with the firm stipulation that they not be sold in their bargain bin, but are kept on the shelf for everyone interested to enjoy! Who knows, I may want to check one of 'em out again one day for a reread!

I can even count them as a legitimate deduction for my state and federal taxes... :icon_lol: