Arts & Humanities

Local Libraries

Arts & Humanities

Posted by: CAT17

21st Feb 2011 03:57pm

I am a member of a commttee who support and fundraise for our local library. I have a passion for books and reading and worry that with all the modern technology (e-books) that real books will one day be replaced. How do you feel about your local library, do you use it and in fact support it? My children are avid readers and have now passed this passion onto their children. I don't think there is anything more rewarding than to read a story to a small child. If you feel like I do about books, please support you local library. Here's to books!

Comments 24

ozziedigger
  • 7th Oct 2012 11:21am

My wife and I are very grateful to the people who get libraries up and running.As
pensioners we couldn`t afford (if not for the library) to read so many books and to gain extra knowledge and enjoyment.I love the CD section and DVD`s also.

Anonymous
  • 29th Sep 2012 08:14pm

i have to agree wholeheartedly with your post there is something intensely satisfying about turning the pages of a book unfortunately e-books don't give you that same satisfaction, however the decline of libraries is not wholly attributed to e-book, the fact that fewer and fewer people have any interest in reading at all is the major cause of the decline of libraries and bookstores it is also extremely depressing.

Hkmt
  • 25th Sep 2012 01:17pm

ebooks are useful for their own category of topics, but real books have different feeling altogether. use the library a lot these days. very useful.

s
  • 29th Jun 2012 12:34pm

I belong to 3 libraries and this semester I am doing certificate 3 in Library/information services. I do worry about ebooks and the effect it may have in the future. Could not imagine myself with an ebook it seems so wrong with what we have been brought up with does anybody else agree?
I to also read to my children and when I am given a chance I like to read to my grandchildren.

dave
  • 8th Apr 2012 10:58pm

libraries are good for interest and knowledge but i believe ebooks will take over

Amanda
  • 3rd Apr 2012 10:01pm

Hi :) I haven't been to the library for a while but I love the library. I do worry too and personally I just love holding an actual book and huddling into a lounge or in bed with it. I also like how some libraries keep music CDs I like opening my mind to new styles by borrowing a random CD. So yes please keep libraries going!!!!

Anonymous
  • 2nd Mar 2012 03:04pm

I just love our local library. The librarians keep thinking of new ways to get the community involved. Currently there is a knitting drive to knit bookmarks for the Year of Reading. As the bookmarks are knitted they are sewn together to make blankets for people in winter. I just love that.
There was a drive at Christmas for people to bring in food in exchange for library fines.

trix56
  • 22nd Nov 2011 11:03pm

I'd be lost without my library. I'm only on a pension so can't afford to buy books.
I read to all my children when they were little and they all turned into readers. Some are a little time poor at the moment but still manage to get a read in every now and then.
I'm a big scifi/fantasy fan. I love it that I can order a book online and have it turn up at my library for me within a few days. So many of my books are trilogies or more so to keep track I can find them online. Can't imagine taking the computer to bed but love to take a book (and perhaps my dog) to bed with me.

Anonymous
  • 14th Sep 2011 02:09pm

Hey there, I'm 14 and I almost never reads books, once iBooks came to the market and since I've been using the internet, I've rarely turned to books for information. The internet is just so much easier to use and faster and i don't have to worry about getting to the library, returning things to the library, losing books etc... I do go to the library for books sometimes but not so often, I think books are still extremely useful and popular but so are eBooks and iBooks and websites in general, when I think of reading, I think of reading to a younger sister or brother, not using them for studying, like everything else, books will someday go out of fashion.

lmturvey
  • 3rd Jul 2011 05:33pm

I love books! I like to read them, I like to smell them and love to posses them. But in these hard financial times my guilty pleasure of buying book has had to take a back seat to things like paying bills. So what better way to get my book fix than buy joining the local library and opening myself upto not just my good 'ol favourite authors but ones I've not heard of and styles I have never considered. I can spend hours in a library and also my particular library I frequent has free wireless so I'm able to connect my laptop and do work for free!!! They are a great environment for young and old and I wish more people would see the merit in them.

Martin
  • 2nd Jul 2011 06:12pm

I also love reading aloud, and making children laugh at the humour in children's books. I have just finished reading "Inkheart" about a reader who calls some very nasty characters out of books by reading aloud ~ happy ending, fortunately.
I don't think e-books will replace books, except in the case of phone books, and other database type info books.
There is something special about opening a book - you never know whether you're going to be transported somewhere magically, or just plain bored!

trish
  • 2nd Jul 2011 09:44am

Love books, often see school classes in the local library,which is just great. There is nothing that can give the same pleasure as holding a book in your lap, and turning the pages.Use the library all the time and are never without at least 10 books at home. reading is my forte as some might say.I buy books for my grandchildren,and hope that the passion and respect for books will continue .

kayteejay46
  • 25th Jun 2011 12:39pm

Hi
I adore my local library and would be lost without it. How amazing to have all of those books in one place. What a treasure trove. I work with disabled people and often take them there to choose books or to study a topic of interest. We access the technology and interactive media. On a personal level, I have email alerts which tell me when my favorite writers have published a new work. I can then place a booking for it. Also, I have the option to write a review on the local library website. I spent six weeks with no vision a few years ago, so talking books became my friends.
Yes, I love the library. It is a wonderful, valuable resource. I take my grandson there and read to him, and take home a pile of books for us to snuggle up and read. I recently discovered that I can find series of good TV shows on DVD so have caught up on "Madmen" and "Love my Way". Awesome.
Yes I have tried to read a book on kindle, but that tactile sensation of opening a new book, sniffing the pristine white pages and the welcoming smell of new ink. Wonderul to have it tucked in my bag for quiet moments to browse or like welcoming an old friend when I curl up in bed at night and read a few chapters, immersing myself in another's world for a short time. Bliss

Miss Prim
  • 25th Jun 2011 08:42am

Hi Cat! I have been reading a lot of detective and romantic books of late to take my mind off pain. Haven't read many books by Australian authors of late but must get back to doing so. I have read lots of books by Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, Anna Jacobs (a pommie now living in Australia), Jayne Ann Krentz, Di Morrissey, Connie Monk, Amanda Quick, and Danielle Steel. Haven't read any of the books you mentioned but will look into it next time I change my books. I may not be able to answer after the end of July as I am having knee replacement surgery.. I am making arrangements with my library for books to be delivered if my husband is unable to collect them. I would be lost without my books. That's a good idea about recommending good reads to each other.

Miss Prim
  • 23rd Jun 2011 08:09pm

Libraries are here to stay! You can't curl up on a wet winter's day with an e-book but you can with a book. You can't take an e-book to bed with you but you can a book. I used to work in a library before computers and miss the old way of stamping the date at the back of the book. I always lose the print out bit of paper I am given. I read a lot and have an A-Z book which I use to record the books that I have read under authors names. Also I have the library times on the front page and a list of books I would like to read tucked in an envelope at the back. I used to take my son to the library when he was a child and he loved it. No doubt he will pass his love of books on to his children too. I don't buy magazines as I use my library if I wish to read a magazine but prefer to read books. Books let your imagination run wild about the characters in them and you can imagine in your mind's eye what they are like. I'm with you here's to books!

CAT17
  • 24th Jun 2011 10:27pm
Libraries are here to stay! You can't curl up on a wet winter's day with an e-book but you can with a book. You can't take an e-book to bed with you but you can a book. I used to work in a...

Hi Calamity and other booklovers! Wow I am so happy to be in contact with others who feel the same about books and libraries. How would some of you feel if we could recommend a "good read" to each other. I have just finished "The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak" and found it great, I also loved "Floodtide, Kal, Maralinga, etc by Judy Nunn, in fact any of her books are great if you like Australian writers, I could recommend anything by Kate Grenville, she is another Australian writer I love to read. Would be great if some of you out there could recommend books to me too. Has anyone read Salmon Fishing in the Yennem cant remember author but fab fun read, The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly, Penguins stopped play: eleven village cricketers take on the world by Harry Thompson? Just some of the recent books I have read with my reading group. Keep in touch, I think we have a great thing going!

CAT17
  • 22nd Jun 2011 07:25pm

Hi sprinles! so glad to know there are many Library Lovers out there. I am the Secretary of a Group named Friends of the Library and we have a wonderful time organising fund raising events to raise money to purchase additional specialty items for our library. In fact we have now teamed up with a well known Pulblishing House here in Adelaide and are proud to Launch or Celebrate books by South Australian authors. We are getting quite a reputation for putting on a good do! It is so rewarding to work alongside other "passionate booklovers" and get to meet some wonderful inspiring Authors. We raise quite a bit of money at the same time really enjoy ourselves.

sprinkles
  • 22nd Jun 2011 02:38pm

What a great topic, libraries are the best. Bugger the e-book, there's nothing like getting into a juicy novel on a freezing cold night. Our library now has annoying scan machines to check out DVDs and books. I miss chatting with real people.
Benjamib Franklin invented libraries, what a good fellow! ( I learned that from watching an old "Bewitched" episode:)

CAT17
  • 18th Jun 2011 10:23pm

Hey Martin I am with you, the smell and feel of a new book! I love reading and got to say it is a pleasure that is so rewarding. My favourite authos or two are Judy Nunn and Kate Grenville. Australia authors are great. Judy Nunn does fantastic research to background her story and the characters are "real" I am often rekuctant to close the book when the story is finished - the characters are so real.I am a member of a Reading Group (7 of us) and it is wonderful to read a book (mostly ones I wouldn't choose) and then get feed back from others. It is amazing how each one of us gets something differebt from the book. I would recommend joining a reading group, we range in age from mid 60s to mid 80s!! IM FOR BOOKS.

Martin
  • 17th Jun 2011 11:37pm

Absolutely! Children learn to love books by sitting on their parents' laps and hearing stories. And humans of any age love to hear stories - it's an innate thing. I think there is a great pleasure in the feel of a book, and I think digital e-books will never completely replace them. Phone books and databases, perhaps, but not a new novel from Garth Nix or [insert your favourite author's name here].

trish
  • 2nd Jul 2011 09:48am
Absolutely! Children learn to love books by sitting on their parents' laps and hearing stories. And humans of any age love to hear stories - it's an innate thing. I think there is a great...

I like Garth Nix as well, although my reading is varied,from Lee Childs to Elizabeth Chadwick,think as readers we go through different stages?get sick of murder mysteries so travel other roads and go to general fiction/sci fi,that's the thing with books such a wide range to enjoy.

codge
  • 19th Mar 2011 07:40am

Hi, I'm with you. One of the strongest signs of a democratic civilised society is a library. I am confident that they have a future although in what form is debatable. They are no longer a refuge though, due to mobile phones and feral kids. I stand next to the phone users and whistle really loudly and tunelessly and pick up running kids and drop them in their parents lap with "I'd hate to see them get hurt running around inside like that, maybe it's time for the playground." The obvious down-side of e-books is that you can't lend a great one to a friend. That's sad. I have been a member of a library for nearly 50 years (ow, that hurt). One of my fondest memories is having a son under each arm whilst reading them a story.

CAT17
  • 24th Jun 2011 10:34pm
Hi, I'm with you. One of the strongest signs of a democratic civilised society is a library. I am confident that they have a future although in what form is debatable. They are no longer a refuge...

If you read to your children they will read to theirs. I know this as my Mum read to me, I read to my two even before they were born and now they read to their tiny little boys! Each book read is a treasure to be remembered, some books stay with you forever. In fact I have been known to reread books I raed when I was young. Anne of Green Gables was even better the second time round! Happy book reading book lovers!

CAT17
  • 20th Mar 2011 12:00am
Hi, I'm with you. One of the strongest signs of a democratic civilised society is a library. I am confident that they have a future although in what form is debatable. They are no longer a refuge...

Sorry to hear your library isn't the quiet place it should be. My local library is such a lovely place. Anytime I walk in there are people reading the newspaper, quietly chatting to each other and generally enjoying be in the library. There are many elderly citizens who use the library for "company" because they live alone. There is a lovely "storytime" where mums and bubs enjoy a story and then organised activities. No children out of control at my library. I don't know what I would do if the library wasn't there, it is so much part of my life. Nothing could replace a book for enjoyment - can't see myself curled up with an e-book somehow! Give me a good book and I am a happy camper!

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