LARRY'S RAMBLE: Libraries

Friday, September 9, 2011

Libraries

Levant Heritage Library, Levant, Maine

I like libraries, even though I don't go to one very often. I like the buildings a lot, but I really like the purpose of them. Some folks think we don't need them anymore and I think they're wrong. Linda, my wife, reads more than I do, she reads more than most people do, she is a regular visitor to the Levant and Brewer Libraries, with an occasional visit to Bangor thrown in just for fun. I don't read as much as I should, from books anyway, I get most of my information online, but I could download a book from a lot of libraries and read it, right here, right now. I could buy an e-reader and download hundreds of books from the Bangor Library (yes, we even have that in Maine)!
But I like the function of a "bricks and mortar" library, but even they have changed, ohh they still have a card index but they use computers too, a computers checks you out, finds what you're looking for too, but it spoils half of the fun - I used to love card indexes.

The card index at Baxter Library, Portland, Maine (now closed)
this was a double sided affair, lots of drawers, all oak

That card file system up there served me greatly when I started college, I spent a lot of hours in the library, it was before PC's were as common or as powerful as we have now (you know, floppy disks and all that). When I was in one of my schools in the Navy my "duty" station every fourth day was at the base library - it was a damn good thing I knew the alphabet and that I'd learned about the Dewey Decimal System in high school - it got me that cushy job.
So, go get a library card, if you don't have one, and don't forget to ask to see the "museum" (card catalog, or index file) and have fun!

The Veterans Memorial Library, Skowheagan, Maine
Isn't this just beautiful, built in 1889 as a memorial to veterans of the U S Civil War, you should see the oak
woodwork, stained glass and fireplaces.