tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001231496609526236.post5558033183987121183..comments2023-12-27T20:30:55.296+00:00Comments on Beck Valley Books & more: Terry Deary's thoughts on libraries is dismissed by author Julia DonaldsonBeck Valley Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218249391077056495noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001231496609526236.post-79626918923189130002013-02-17T19:16:42.917+00:002013-02-17T19:16:42.917+00:00This sounds absolutely wonderful, my husband would...This sounds absolutely wonderful, my husband would be in his element ! Maybe one day you could revisit this splendid place.Beck Valley Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15218249391077056495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001231496609526236.post-10737261262206421812013-02-17T17:39:57.593+00:002013-02-17T17:39:57.593+00:00I was blessed to have been born in Baltimore, Mary...I was blessed to have been born in Baltimore, Maryland, home of the Enoch Pratt Free Library system. It's collection was one of the greatest in the English-speaking world and I grew up haunting its vast canyons of books, tapes, records, and displays. The card catalogs occupied the entire first floor of the main branch, and flipped through them was like exploring time and space. Ancient tomes, rarely visited, arrived on dumb waiters dispatched from mysterious sub basements. <br /><br />I left Baltimore at the age of 23 and never returned. Life took me many places including Hawaii, Colorado, and California, places totally bereft of adequate libraries, and thus, I grew my own. The Enoch Pratt had imbued me with a love of reading.<br /><br />As a writer, I miss the Enoch Pratt keenly. My library and the Internet can never match the resources of the Enoch Pratt for research. <br /><br />Why didn't I go back? Sorry, that's another story.Jack Durishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06577583997517810469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001231496609526236.post-85943380744001621782013-02-17T12:50:57.969+00:002013-02-17T12:50:57.969+00:00It is a sad fact that libraries in the UK are star...It is a sad fact that libraries in the UK are starting to be threatened with closure. It will be a sad day when ebooks are favored completely over real books. As a bookstore and book lover there is nothing that can replace the feel of a real book xBeck Valley Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15218249391077056495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8001231496609526236.post-27464820696256943352013-02-16T20:50:31.898+00:002013-02-16T20:50:31.898+00:00Wow does that make me mad!
I'll admit it--I ...Wow does that make me mad! <br /><br />I'll admit it--I am blessed to have the income to buy lots of books and the (decent enough) reputation to get some for review as well. But libraries serve such a broad and wide series of purposes, as that article describes, that the thought of their demise sickens me. <br /><br />This is something about the invention of eBooks that does deeply concern me. Libraries do, as said above, grant a chance to level the playing field. The ability to read--and in turn to have material worth reading--should not be viewed as a privilege, but rather as a basic right of being human. <br /><br />Perhaps we should grant authors a choice over whether their books may be stocked for public use? (Much like proper fan fiction sites will refrain from posting stuff based on their work at their request.)<br /><br />If they wish to be the tree that no one hears fall in the forest, then so be it. <br /><br />But I must say: this is shameful indeed. Kathy Ann Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836866225157439514noreply@blogger.com