Celebrating Libraries and Librarians
Today is one of my favorite work days of the year. It is National Library Workers day. We get to give ourselves a little pat on the back for the many hours we put in, and at time when more major cuts are expected. I know we've lost many employees through attrition where I work, and that path will continue since the state of Illinois is in financial woes and can't pay its bills in a timely manner.
The American Library Association (ALA) issued a press release yesterday concerning National Library Week. It said that Americans (and others of course) visited libraries nearly 1.5 billion times and checked out 2 billion items, among them books, DVD's, audiobooks, equipment. I know when I go to my local library, which is generally on a weekend, the workstations are always busy as many in our community use social networking tools and do not have funds for at home broadband use.
Yours truly actually checks out books from time to time, mostly non-fiction. Travel books are among my favorites, especially if Mr. Benny and I are planning to visit a new part of Florida or some where else. I also read a lot of biographies. Last weekend, I checked out Howard Sonnes' biography of Paul McCartney, that was published in 2010 (title is Fab: An Intimate Biography of Paul McCartney). I had started it on the Allure of the Seas (yes, even the ship has a library of books for check-out), but it was so long that I couldn't finish it (it's 563 pages long) as I was reading another book I checked out from our Veterinary Medicine Library, Dewey's Nine Lives written by Iowa librarian, Vickie Myron. It's not exactly a sequel to Dewey, but Dewey became more of a theme for what pets, in particular, pooties, meant to us and got us through the hard times as well celebrating good ones. I confess I had to close the book at times to gather myself when I was reading it on the plane. The stories often turned sad when the kitty died, but other stories were uplifting too.
Today, I hope BW readers will go by and check out something at the Library; most of all, just give a library worker a smile. They make the library work and ensure you get your books, DVD's, keep the building open for teens to do their homework, help promote information literacy, and help job seekers fill out forms. We do a lot, behind the scenes, which is what we do best.
Hats off to my colleagues nationwide, especially to Mr. Benny, who is also a librarian.
The American Library Association (ALA) issued a press release yesterday concerning National Library Week. It said that Americans (and others of course) visited libraries nearly 1.5 billion times and checked out 2 billion items, among them books, DVD's, audiobooks, equipment. I know when I go to my local library, which is generally on a weekend, the workstations are always busy as many in our community use social networking tools and do not have funds for at home broadband use.
Yours truly actually checks out books from time to time, mostly non-fiction. Travel books are among my favorites, especially if Mr. Benny and I are planning to visit a new part of Florida or some where else. I also read a lot of biographies. Last weekend, I checked out Howard Sonnes' biography of Paul McCartney, that was published in 2010 (title is Fab: An Intimate Biography of Paul McCartney). I had started it on the Allure of the Seas (yes, even the ship has a library of books for check-out), but it was so long that I couldn't finish it (it's 563 pages long) as I was reading another book I checked out from our Veterinary Medicine Library, Dewey's Nine Lives written by Iowa librarian, Vickie Myron. It's not exactly a sequel to Dewey, but Dewey became more of a theme for what pets, in particular, pooties, meant to us and got us through the hard times as well celebrating good ones. I confess I had to close the book at times to gather myself when I was reading it on the plane. The stories often turned sad when the kitty died, but other stories were uplifting too.
Today, I hope BW readers will go by and check out something at the Library; most of all, just give a library worker a smile. They make the library work and ensure you get your books, DVD's, keep the building open for teens to do their homework, help promote information literacy, and help job seekers fill out forms. We do a lot, behind the scenes, which is what we do best.
Hats off to my colleagues nationwide, especially to Mr. Benny, who is also a librarian.
Labels: benny world, librarians, Mr. Benny
posted by benny06 at
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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