The spring weather tease. Sixty degrees last Saturday and now it’s raining/sleeting/snowing. It will turn to all snow soon and we are expecting several inches. But at least I don’t live in Duluth where they are having a blizzard. This means it will be a good evening to curl up with my computer and do database searches for class. I’m hoping I’ll have time to curl up with a book too. But first…
Don’t forget next week is National Library Week. Here’s a heartening fact. There are more public libraries in the U.S. than there are McDonald’s. As of the end of the year 2005, the latest year for which numbers are available, there were 13,727 McDonald’s and 16, 543 public libraries plus 825 bookmobiles. And here’s a Super-Size Me video to go along with the factoid.
While I am on the subject of libraries, The Telegraph had an article earlier this week on the 110 Best Books: The Perfect Library. I love lists, especially book lists. Of course the list is open to criticism as lists like these always are. It’s very British and since it’s a British newspaper that did the list I suppose that could be overlooked, but in my opinion a library wants diversity. Another quibble I have with the list is that the ratio of women to men is way off kilter. In the poetry section there is not a single female poet and they chose to include Ted Hughes but not Sylvia Plath. I could kvetch more, but I will leave you to find your own things to not like about the list.
Turns out it’s a short post today. Me and my MacBook Pro are off to school. And can I just say that this new computer of mine is fantastic for online reading but it can only do so much when the electronic journal articles from the college library get scanned slightly blurry. There is also an occasional thumb that shows up in a scanned article which I find both annoying and highly amusing at the same time.
That list is a little odd. I wonder why 110 books? I do like that they included all kinds of categories, including ones not usually appearing on best-of lists, like romantic fiction, crime fiction, and children’s books.
I saw that list and wondered how romantic fiction got its own section, although why not, I suppose. Good luck with the school work, Stefanie – if I haven’t mentioned it lately, I am always so very impressed by people who manage to study and work at the same time. I couldn’t do it!
It makes me so glad to hear those statistics about the number of libraries!
I’m also thrilled to know there are more libraries than McDonalds – hooray! I must be a pessimist because I would have thought the reverse.
Books are food – yum
How could they leave Sylvia Plath off the list? Very good news about the library stats. Sometimes after my Public Libraries class I feel so frustrated that the public library faces an uphill battle. Those stats are reassuring.
You’re right. That is heartening!
It’s snowing right now while I type this. Of course it’s not accumulating, so that’s something! For the last two days my walk to work has been a very wet one! I thought that was an interesting list, too. I’m always open to reading suggestions, so it’s kind of nice to have a variety of choices.
Now I’m curious: are there more public libraries or more Starbucks?
Thank you for letting me know it’s National Library Week. Perfect excuse for me to go spend a few hours at the main branch when I get home next week (not that I need an excuse to do so!). Thanks for sharing the list, too. I love lists, even though I argue with them quite a bit.
Dorothy, I wondered why 110 as well. It is an odd number. The way they broke the books down into categories was interesting though. To give them credit it allowed books that might not normally appear on such a list to make a showing.
Litlove, I was surprised with the romantic fiction section too but there are some good books in it. And thanks. Though I feel like a slacker compared to some of my classmates who are taking three courses a quarter, working full-time and have a toddler at home. I can’t imagine!
Logophile, it made me so happy when I came across those numbers.
Verbivore, I thought there would have to be more McDonald’s too. The fact that there isn’t makes me think that maybe things aren’t as bad as I thought.
bibliophylia, I think public libraries do face an uphill battle but I think the stats show that those who love libraries are good at fighting for them.
Heather, yes it made me very happy.
Danielle, that’s one of the nice things about lists like this, even if you disagree with them there are always a few books on them that end up in the reading pile.
Dark Orpheus, I had to look it up. According to the http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/Company_Factsheet.pdf>company fact sheet from February 2008, there are 7,087 company-owned stores and 4,081 licensed stores in the U.S for a total of 11,168. If you count worldwide, there are 15, 756. So, surprisingly, there are more public libraries than Starbucks!
Emily, your right, who needs an excuse to visit a library?
Interesting list… I have to add it to my other list of the best 100 of the 20th century.