Friday, June 21, 2013

Book Review Friday ...

A confession.  I am reading 3 books right now, and I'm only up to about chapter 3 in each of them.  It's not as crazy as it sounds, one print book, one audio book, and one on my nook.  But I can't do a book review justice on only 3 chapters.  In addition, my older daughter is graduating from high school this weekend and reading and writing have taken a back seat.
So, to keep the promise to myself to get my blogging act together and post SOMETHING.  Here's a link to a great blog post at the AMACOM Book Blog.  "Discovering the Library and the World" by AMACOM's managing editor Andy Ambraziejus is an essay on what libraries meant to him growing up and how he feels about libraries now.  As a librarian it was good to read about someone with such warm memories and strong feelings about, what I think, we are all trying to accomplish in our libraries. 

Here's a sample of what he had to say:

"For me, the library was both a refuge and a place of discovery during adolescence and my teen years."

"The memory is of a place, a place where I felt at home.  Safe and secure, and away from the tumult of the real world with its responsibilities and sometimes conflicting demands. The quiet hush was not oppressive but nurturing, a place to unwind and relax and start exploring everything the library had to offer. And being surrounded by other people doing the same thing gave added comfort and security.  There were other people like me who preferred this place to hanging out or playing outside.  I wasn’t alone."

This is how I want people to feel about the library.  This is the goal of every transaction and communication, to make patrons feel welcome, safe, and home.





2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your daughter's graduation! You got her there! Woot! And it's nice to see your online home, since I'm used to seeing your tiny face in my Candy Crush game ;)

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  2. Too funny, Ali. I was just thinking I was going to give up on this blog, since I'm the only one who ever looks at it. Thanks for stopping by.

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