Library books to suit many tastes in reading

Fiction section, grpl.org 2/2019 (click image for full-size image view)

The top of every other bookshelf end row has a large signboard telling the genre collected on those shelves, along with a playful slogan or tag-line that fits that category of literature:

Give thanks with a great INSPIRATIONAL read
Find a ROMANCE you'll love
Unearth great MYSTERY books
New game, new voices, URBAN FICTION, real expressions
Boldly discover new worlds - SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & HORROR

With the advent of cable and satellite TV in the 1980s and then the home use of Internet in the 2000s, the hours available each day for a person to seek answers, information, entertainment or diversion have not grown, but the choices and perception of interacting with the materials has expanded. As a result, the volume of books loaned to residents has not increased with growing population size; in many cases even as titles published electronically and in print have increased, sales and library lending has declined. One commenter suggested that maybe 5 or 10 % of the US population reads for pleasure (not work-related or assigned in courses of study), but that those people have slightly increased the amount of reading that they do as choices of format has expanded to included audio download (while commuting, dog-walking, or dish washing, for instance) and e-books to carry on cellphone or dedicated e-reading device to fill the time spent waiting in line, or in-between tasks when there are 5 or 10 minutes available.

Public libraries serve many functions in the age of Internet and mobile computing and communicating. The act as places of warmth to those without a home, and places of cooling during hot summer days to these same people. Job seekers and people lacking Internet at home or work can use the public terminals for set daily time limits when they login. Library staff organize a range of events and programs each month to suit all the populations - children, retired, care-givers, parents and working-age people, teens, and so on. A large collection of music CD and feature film (and non-fiction) DVD is available for loan to residents or to people far-away who make a request though the state-wide interlibrary loan system.

In the time of the Information Economy and Knowledge Workers, it is especially important to be able to speak with a trained reference librarian to solve a problem, seek an answer, or make a strategy to gather needed information and make decisions. Like the rest of the society and economy, the public library and its branches continue to look for ways to be of most service to those it serves.

books, beaches, imaginary worlds

¨Books can take you places¨ used to be a catch phrase at libraries, Public Service Announcements, summer reading programs, GED and alternative education promotional posters, and so on. It is still true today, but the phrase is not so much in circulation these days.

[click for full size image: display top of cabinets on 2nd floor of Traverse Area District Library to promote reading at the beach: 6 July 2016]

Whether the printed page appears in pocket-size, magazine size, serial or all in one edition hardback or softcover the cultural significance is the same: one or more authors, and likely one or more editors pored over the manuscript (seldom written by hand; so more true-to-say typescript) and then a chain of technical experts and logistical processes connect the finished work with the final distribution in print or electronically for reading on portable electronic device. There is the technology of inks, papers, the graphic design to interpret the title and story inside, the pricing and promotional efforts by marketing specialists. There may be price points for book launch, then the rates at brick-and-mortar retail sellers, a 2ndary market for used books online and at stores, and the tertiary market of yard sales, free boxes and donations.

So when faced with an impressive collection of books like this, it is worth remembering what is implicated far in the past when author(s) cherished an inkling of a story and finally months or decades of life experience later produce a draft to work its way to the printing and distribution stages. And the implication stretches equally far in the opposite direction, too; toward an indefinite future in the life cycle of a particular edition, or maybe extended with multiple reprintings, as well. But in the release of the camera's shutter, that long timeline from conception to final disposition of a book is frozen momentarily to display the impressive cumulative result of many hands and minds.