You know, that place with the books

Occasionally I’ll have moments where I’ll see something online related to an interest of mine. It might be an interest I would still claim and yet I realize it’s been a while since I was REALLY into it. So the thing online will make me think “Aw man, I remember that, it was cool.” I wrote about running in this way a few weeks ago, if you recall.

Today’s episode is brought to me by HQ76 .O26 1984 a Tumblr devoted to “Libraries & Librarians, Toronto, Beards & Other Gay Stuff.” The gay stuff IS there, but nothing is really explicit so if you’re concerned about that, don’t be. What really got me was the library stuff. The proprietor is a librarian, I guess, and posts photos of libraries, inside and out, related humor, and even some geeky stuff I get because of my long association with $LargeReferencePublisher. It’s a fun blog.

I have a weakness for photos of “stacks,” or bookshelves. I know we’re supposed to be all about digital information now, but to me a library has lots of tall bookshelves with hundreds of books. The best ones seem something like cathedrals to knowledge and literature. Yet, I am shamed to admit that I have not been inside a library for years. There aren’t many reference and reading needs for me lately, nothing important at any rate. If you just need to know “When did that movie actor die?” because of a dinner conversation, Google is as good as you need. But running into something like a library blog makes me wistfully think of the days when my mom took me and my sister to the local library branch in Detroit, a now 85-year-old edifice with tall bookshelves and hundreds of books. It was one of my very favorite places to go when I was 9 or 10, and very formative of my attitudes and my career as well.

It’s probably too late to seriously consider getting an MLS (which I have considered from time to time), but I could try to find a library at some point, just to get some of that atmosphere.