Comments on: The Egalitarian Oasis of the Library http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/ Writing, reading, walking Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:53:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Barbara http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2616 Barbara Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:23:50 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2616 Kari! I just went to your website and saw your (wonderful!) photos. How funny that you're here, too. Julie, that's so, true. So important. It's up to all of us to be aware and alert to what's happening with our libraries. Kari! I just went to your website and saw your (wonderful!) photos. How funny that you’re here, too.

Julie, that’s so, true. So important. It’s up to all of us to be aware and alert to what’s happening with our libraries.

]]> By: Kari http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2615 Kari Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:00:44 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2615 I found your blog a couple months ago & have enjoyed reading your entries. Then I read today's post & said, "Wait...the Ruth Holley Branch?! Does she live HERE?" :) Small world. That used to be my branch many years ago, but I haven't been down there in a long time. I love libraries. The old archive room in the downtown library is the best! I found your blog a couple months ago & have enjoyed reading your entries. Then I read today’s post & said, “Wait…the Ruth Holley Branch?! Does she live HERE?” :) Small world. That used to be my branch many years ago, but I haven’t been down there in a long time. I love libraries. The old archive room in the downtown library is the best!

]]> By: Julie http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2614 Julie Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:16:12 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2614 Today's library is the Internet cafe for the common man. Any city council working their annual budget needs to take a field trip to their local libraries to see their tax dollars at work before they declare that libraries are dead and shut them down (as happened here in Euless, a suburb of Ft. worth, recently). I was delighted to discover the newer branches of my public library have plugs smack dab in the middles of the tables for notebook computers. Not to mention wireless. Another place I can call "my office." :-) I got my MLS a few years ago to expand my research and technology capabilities, and though I may never be a library employee, I fell in love with libraries all over again in the process. Today’s library is the Internet cafe for the common man. Any city council working their annual budget needs to take a field trip to their local libraries to see their tax dollars at work before they declare that libraries are dead and shut them down (as happened here in Euless, a suburb of Ft. worth, recently).

I was delighted to discover the newer branches of my public library have plugs smack dab in the middles of the tables for notebook computers. Not to mention wireless. Another place I can call “my office.” :-)

I got my MLS a few years ago to expand my research and technology capabilities, and though I may never be a library employee, I fell in love with libraries all over again in the process.

]]> By: Barbara http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2613 Barbara Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:17:04 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2613 Oh, that's a lovely story of the library in the church! And beautifully told. Thank you. Oh, that’s a lovely story of the library in the church! And beautifully told. Thank you.

]]> By: Rosalie http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2612 Rosalie Thu, 05 Jul 2007 01:50:28 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2612 My favorite library memory is of one on Alameda Island in Ca., in the spring of 1960. My husband was stationed there in the navy, I was a young mother with another on the way, and we had NO money, no friends and were 1000 miles from our families-and yet I felt free and adventurous. My first home away, my chance to be a grown-up (I was 18). In our tiny little Naval housing unit, with scant furnishings and an adored, brilliant little daughter, we made our first real home. Since we had both lived all our lives inland, the sound of foghorns was as foreign and delightful to us as an exotic fruit is to a gourmand. As i said we had no money, but in the first week of walking the small community, pushing said darling daughter in her stroller, I discovered a tiny library in a converted old church complete with steeple and white clapboard siding. It became our favorite place to go, visit with the nice older librarians who also thought our little girl was wonderful and the first books ever checked out to read to her. In addition, it was my first "book group", as my husband and I discovered we had like tastes in much of our reading favorites, so we could each check out, read and discuss many of the same books. It has been 47 years, but that little library is as alive in my mind as the new and elaborate one built in our community recently. I had been a library patron since I was a child myself, but that one will always be THE library in my heart. My favorite library memory is of one on Alameda Island in Ca., in the spring of 1960. My husband was stationed there in the navy, I was a young mother with another on the way, and we had NO money, no friends and were 1000 miles from our families-and yet I felt free and adventurous. My first home away, my chance to be a grown-up (I was 18). In our tiny little Naval housing unit, with scant furnishings and an adored, brilliant little daughter, we made our first real home. Since we had both lived all our lives inland, the sound of foghorns was as foreign and delightful to us as an exotic fruit is to a gourmand.
As i said we had no money, but in the first week of walking the small community, pushing said darling daughter in her stroller, I discovered a tiny library in a converted old church complete with steeple and white clapboard siding. It became our favorite place to go, visit with the nice older librarians who also thought our little girl was wonderful and the first books ever checked out to read to her. In addition, it was my first “book group”, as my husband and I discovered we had like tastes in much of our reading favorites, so we could each check out, read and discuss many of the same books. It has been 47 years, but that little library is as alive in my mind as the new and elaborate one built in our community recently. I had been a library patron since I was a child myself, but that one will always be THE library in my heart.

]]> By: AnneGracie http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/07/04/the-egalitarian-oasis-of-the-library/comment-page-1/#comment-2611 AnneGracie Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:05:51 +0000 http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/?p=152#comment-2611 Lovely story, Barbara. I think public libraries are the absolute symbol of civilization. I write the kind of books I wrote because I discovered Georgette Heyer through my local library when I was eleven. But my favorite true-life library story is by Eva Ibbotson, a wonderful, luscious writer from the UK who set a lot of her adult books in war-affected Europe. Thankfully, they're reissuing her adult books, which have been out of print for years. She tells her story here: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/qz5cs" rel="nofollow">http://tinyurl.com/qz5cs</a> Lovely story, Barbara.
I think public libraries are the absolute symbol of civilization.
I write the kind of books I wrote because I discovered Georgette Heyer through my local library when I was eleven.

But my favorite true-life library story is by Eva Ibbotson, a wonderful, luscious writer from the UK who set a lot of her adult books in war-affected Europe. Thankfully, they’re reissuing her adult books, which have been out of print for years.
She tells her story here:
http://tinyurl.com/qz5cs

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