Due to a lot of reasons, which may include the growing use of electronic books, new generations of people having never developed the joy of reading, and budgetary concerns, libraries all around the country are closing or significantly decreasing their hours of operation. Many schools no longer have libraries, opting for electronic books, and anyone majoring in library sciences probably doesn't have very good job prospects. Our library closed in Millinocket for a few months when the town quit funding it. It has since been reopened by a volunteer board, but the emphasis is on serving as a community center. They have replaced several rows of library books with computers and games, and have done away with the downstairs children's library altogether, using that space for events or meetings. The Mark Twain Library in Detroit was closed for renovations in 1996 and never reopened.
OMG, I could cry looking at the pictures of those lost books!! Sadly it's happening here too. Either our large libraries are all but computer rooms now with only a small part a lending library...or our large (usually beautiful ones) ..have closed down and become very small box like structures on the high street mingling in among stores.. and even then still with few books compared to computers!! All my life I've been a library fan..going at least a couple of times a month, sometimes borrowing up to 12 books...I haven't been for at least 3 years now to borrow a book, simply because there's nothing new on the shelves, there's no quiet reading room now, and the ''quiet'' has all gone, what with children running around screaming, and dozens of computer keys clattering all at once..it's no longer the calm oasis I used to love... ..now I buy books instead...
I have a library card and a library not too far from my house but I haven't been there in years. I like libraries but old ones not modern looking ones like I have near me. When I visited my brother in CT I went to the one at Yale University...that was beautiful!
Treasure my Bodleian Library card from Oxford. Had a library around the block and my first card when I was five. NYC has a very dynamic library system, including the local branches. Always loved books, not just the content but the feel, the smell. Have studied and researched at some of the finest libraries on Planet Earth; I exaggerate, let's just say private & public collections in Boston & Cambridge MA; NYC; London & Oxford & Zurich. Like heaven to me. Also many local branches have astounding collections, like Nashua NH, at least it was 20 years ago. Ken, that photo you posted is a heartbreaker. Glad to say my 6 month old grandson has been read to from books since practically birth. Hope he always loves books.
One, among many, things that we will be missing is a regional identity. I have always been interested in the history of the places where I have lived. While we published a monthly newspaper, each month I would feature a small Maine town, sometimes two, in large part writing about its history. I would rent a room there if the town had a hotel or B&B, or I'd rent one nearby. The first thing I would do is visit the library, as most of them had regional histories, often not available anywhere outside of the library, and in binder form. I would spend a day or two reviewing the various versions of the history of the town. Then I'd go around town, taking pictures of the older buildings in town. Usually, someone would ask what I was doing, and that was an opening for some local interviews and referrals to others who could tell me about the town. This will all be gone with the demise of the libraries. Oh, there will probably be histories available, but not the variety of them, and they'll be harder to find.
I am an anti library person. Before the electronic age libraries were a valuable and necessary asset to the community. They are now a concept that is past its time. In NY there is a library assessment added to local taxes, kind of like a lighting or water district. The amount of the assessment depends on how glib the librarians are and how gullible the town supervisors are. During the last funding cycle the library claimed a constituency of some 3500 card holding customers,thereby justifying a major funding increase. A further study revealed that while there were in fact that many or more valid cards, there were in fact only about 400 to 500 unique users. A county of about 40,000 have ten or twelve dollars added to their annual tax bill in order to subsidize entertainment for 500 people.
I can find out in one afternoon now, what used to take weeks using libraries, and I had transportation easily available. You just have to be a little smarter about where to look. I remember having to use interlibrary loan, when a book you needed wasn't available at your library. It might take a week to get the book, and then you find out it really wasn't what you thought it was. Now you can order digital copies of documents, and download them in a minute to your home computer.
Libraries now contain much digital content as well as courses in computer basics. Reading groups, homework help for the young'uns. English Conversation for foreign language speakers. Concerts, Tai Chi classes. Book Clubs for adults and lots more; tax preparation help! Breakfasts & lunches in the summertime for kids when school is out! Nutritional classes...........Somebody Stop Me! I could go on and on. Local libraries in NYC are community centers revolving around lifetime learning. Reading is FUNdamental. Love of knowledge is what is instilled in a kid hanging out in a library.
Sounds good, @Lulu Moppet. It's better for most youngsters to hang out with others, rather than sit alone in a cubby hole at home. I haven't been in a public library since I retired, so I'm not aware of all the things that go on there now.
I also love books, and have been a reader ever since I can remember learning to read “The Pokey Little Puppy”, way back when I was only a few years old. I have been a vagabond and moved for most of my adult life, and the heaviest boxes were usually my library of books. Eventually, some got left along the way, never to be recovered again, because they were old and hard to replace. Now, I do have a few real books, but most of what I read and buy are the digital ebooks. It is easier for me to read on my Kindle because I can choose brightness, font size, and such as that, plus the book is never large, awkward, or heavy to hold or carry around. However, I really hate to see libraries fade away, and books destroyed. Even if we can find everything faster and easier on the internet, the books are there and PERMANENT. Should we finally have that war, or disaster , that stops all of our modern technology, whatever books are left anywhere will be the only way that mankind can learn about their history, or even any of the many things that we learn from reading books. If this ever happened, books would be worth more than gold again, and kept safely as treasures, since there would not be any more of them for a long, long time, or maybe forever.
If it hadn't been for the wonderful, free libraries, I wonder if the internet would have come into being? Did folks cry over replacing inkwells with #2 pencils & ball point pens?
While doing profiles of smaller towns, I still have to rely on interlibrary loans or buy books on eBay, because the histories included in most town sites are insufficient and, oddly enough, historical society sites rarely include a history of the town.