[Putnawa's Blog] Books, books and more books
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Putnawa
Jan 3, 2009, 4:36:16 PM1/3/09
to Putnaw...@googlegroups.com
The move from Boston to Seattle was traumatic. I had been laid off from my favorite job ever, my relationship of more than six years had ended, and I had to find a way to ship something like 15 boxes of books across North America without spending the entirety of my meager savings.
Three moves later, and I was still hauling boxes of books from apartment to apartment, rarely even getting them unpacked and on the shelves, let alone organized. Or read.
Looking through one of these boxes one day a couple of years ago, I realized I had only read one of the books in the box. And that wasn't technically a "read," as it was a Japanese-English character dictionary from college. I realized then I had an addiction, and that something had to change. The addiction to be addressed, obviously, wasn't my compulsive need to read everything, but was instead the foolish acquisition of dozens of books each year. (Ah, Powell's, you sweet, sweet temptress!)
The books were literally weighing me down every time I needed to move, so I started to trim my collection. College textbooks and weird -- but thoughtful -- gifts were the first to go. Then books I'd read but had no intention of re-reading. Finally I was down to a few signed books, books I love reading again and again, a few sentimental attachments, and a couple of dozen of books I'd yet to read. And even then I decided to make a list and get rid of those and get them from the library when I finally get around to reading them.
I've been reminded of this oppressive sense of attachment and weight these past two weeks, as I've been responsible for moving two -- yes, two -- libraries. The first is the private library of my employer, and the second is an LGBT community library that recently lost its home.
The employer's library is mostly reference books, and is housed in the office. It's moving floors to a more accessible and interesting location. I'm appalled by the subjective and poorly-executed organizational system in use, and I'm trying to refrain from offering to re-organize the whole thing so it makes sense and becomes more usable. (With fully searchable catalog, of course.) But more on that later.
The community library used to be housed at the LGBT community center, but financial troubles has forced the center into restructuring. The services and the library are now being provided through another community non-profit, and I've joined the board of the center to try and get the organization back on its feet and into their own space. It's going to take some work, but it's definitely do-able.
[As an aside, being on a board is hard work, and involves a great deal of responsibility. If you are ever asked, and can't hack it, please don't get involved. Having seen the mess made by the neglect of formerly involved individuals, I know have much less respect for folks I use to consider community leaders. I'll say no more here, but my friend-confessor has heard an earful.]
If anything, both of these experiences has reaffirmed my commitment to maintaining a pared-down personal library. I love books. I love reading. The last two years have been "slow" reading years, in my estimation, and I read 50 and 97 books, respectively, in 2007 and 2008. But this is why I have a borderline erotic fixation on the Seattle Public Library. (Well, really just any public library. I'm a library slut.)
But I love touching books and looking at books and arranging books and cataloging books and searching for books. And this made me think that I also love answering questions and searching for answers and finding new sources of information. So maybe what I really need to do is work at a library. Of course, I can't just work at a library, I'll have to run a library. I guess this means I'm going to have to get that Masters in Library and Information Sciences degree after all.
And I guess that's the point of all this.
Toodles.
--
Posted By Putnawa to Putnawa's Blog at 1/03/2009 12:46:00 PM
Three moves later, and I was still hauling boxes of books from apartment to apartment, rarely even getting them unpacked and on the shelves, let alone organized. Or read.
Looking through one of these boxes one day a couple of years ago, I realized I had only read one of the books in the box. And that wasn't technically a "read," as it was a Japanese-English character dictionary from college. I realized then I had an addiction, and that something had to change. The addiction to be addressed, obviously, wasn't my compulsive need to read everything, but was instead the foolish acquisition of dozens of books each year. (Ah, Powell's, you sweet, sweet temptress!)
The books were literally weighing me down every time I needed to move, so I started to trim my collection. College textbooks and weird -- but thoughtful -- gifts were the first to go. Then books I'd read but had no intention of re-reading. Finally I was down to a few signed books, books I love reading again and again, a few sentimental attachments, and a couple of dozen of books I'd yet to read. And even then I decided to make a list and get rid of those and get them from the library when I finally get around to reading them.
I've been reminded of this oppressive sense of attachment and weight these past two weeks, as I've been responsible for moving two -- yes, two -- libraries. The first is the private library of my employer, and the second is an LGBT community library that recently lost its home.
The employer's library is mostly reference books, and is housed in the office. It's moving floors to a more accessible and interesting location. I'm appalled by the subjective and poorly-executed organizational system in use, and I'm trying to refrain from offering to re-organize the whole thing so it makes sense and becomes more usable. (With fully searchable catalog, of course.) But more on that later.
The community library used to be housed at the LGBT community center, but financial troubles has forced the center into restructuring. The services and the library are now being provided through another community non-profit, and I've joined the board of the center to try and get the organization back on its feet and into their own space. It's going to take some work, but it's definitely do-able.
[As an aside, being on a board is hard work, and involves a great deal of responsibility. If you are ever asked, and can't hack it, please don't get involved. Having seen the mess made by the neglect of formerly involved individuals, I know have much less respect for folks I use to consider community leaders. I'll say no more here, but my friend-confessor has heard an earful.]
If anything, both of these experiences has reaffirmed my commitment to maintaining a pared-down personal library. I love books. I love reading. The last two years have been "slow" reading years, in my estimation, and I read 50 and 97 books, respectively, in 2007 and 2008. But this is why I have a borderline erotic fixation on the Seattle Public Library. (Well, really just any public library. I'm a library slut.)
But I love touching books and looking at books and arranging books and cataloging books and searching for books. And this made me think that I also love answering questions and searching for answers and finding new sources of information. So maybe what I really need to do is work at a library. Of course, I can't just work at a library, I'll have to run a library. I guess this means I'm going to have to get that Masters in Library and Information Sciences degree after all.
And I guess that's the point of all this.
Toodles.
--
Posted By Putnawa to Putnawa's Blog at 1/03/2009 12:46:00 PM
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages