A very quiet day in the library today. No shelving to do. Not many students. Only my first “display” to put up. I chose Martin Luther King and Civil Rights and found books from our collection about MLK and the law and major civil rights cases like Brown v Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson. Then I spent time tracing letter templates and then cutting out the letters. My display includes some photos as well as some quotes from King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail and Langston Hughes’ poem Dream Deferred. I had imagined it would all look so grand in its little corner, but when all is said and done it looks kind of dorky. Oh well. It’s my first display and since I was given charge of doing displays, I guess I will get plenty of practice.
After my display was up and with no crowd standing before it in stupefied awe, I had nothing else to do. So I began searching the catalog for books. Of course I couldn’t remember any of the books I have been longing to read for ages. I had to resort to random author searching as names popped into my head. To my delight, I discovered that, available to me are 8 books by Gabriel Josipovici, 8 books by W.G. Sebald, 4 books by Iain Sinclair (a British author I’ve been wanting to read but no one here seems to carry his books), and Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading by Paul Saenger, a book I have been looking for for awhile now (subject heading Books and reading – history). I also found Romantic Readers: The Evidence of Marginalia by H. J. Jackson. I have read his Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books and loved it.
Also available for checkout is the entire ten volumes of the Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Unfortunately, I have so much reading to do for school and so much reading of my own that I am in the middle of, I had to resist the urge to go crazy and request books. Sigh. Maybe I can go book request crazy at the end of the quarter in March. Something to look forward to.
Quote of the Moment
The worst way to read, he said, is with the thought that you do not have enough time. The only way to read is in the knowledge that there is an infinite amount of time stretching ahead, and that if one wishes to taste only afew sentences per day one is free to do so.
~Gabriel Josipovivi, Moo Pak
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Ooh, which Iain Sinclair books? I haven’t read anything by him but London: City of Disappearances keeps catching my eye in bookshops, and I really want to read London Orbital as well.
I WANT YOUR JOB!
No, seriously though… with all due respect, Stefanie, I want to somehow get your fired, and then promptly ASSUME YOUR JOB.
Your job at the Library is so much way better than mine and just more FUN and stuff!
Me wantsssss it! [<-- Gollum, in Lord of the Rings...]
And secondly…. in all of the books you mentioned, oh, the Sebald!
Who is like unto Sebald?
He is my choice, of these selections!
Hello, I agree with cipriano. I’m like, Um, that would be my perfect day at work. Fiddle with fancy display, then search catalog for books. Hello?!?
This post made me laugh a lot. I would gladly stand in stupefied awe before your display if I could. I am doing it virtually. But isn’t it funny doing new things like that? I had my first ever group session with students and in my imagination doing the planning beforehand it was so neat and perfect. In reality it was a riot. And I had to think, oh well, I imagine I’ll get practised at this over the years……
Eight Josipovici has me salivating with envy!
I suck at doing displays and would be in a complete panic if that were a major part of my job! I’m just not artistic in the least. But it sounds like you are doing great at it, and will get even better as you go along
And how nice to have so many great books available to you there. Can you check books out for a long time, like a month or even an entire semester?
I love marginalia and now have H.J. Jackson in my sights! Thanks, Stefanie!
Sounds like a fun day to me!
I love doing displays although sometimes they look better in your imagination than they do when finished…my most successful one was for Banned Books Week when I wrapped all the books in brown paper with only titles showing and threw in a few chains and padlocks for effect…lots of fun.
I am also jealous of all the great books you have available to you! Enjoy, once you have time to read them all again.
Not standing around in stupefied awe? How odd. Sounds like a great idea for a display, with MLK Day on Monday and the inauguration on Tuesday.
If you wait to put books on hold, they’ll just end out coming in after class starts up again. It’s a Rule of Holds.
Heather, I now have access to Downriver, Or the Vessels of Wrath; Lights Out for the Territory; London Orbital; White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings. The latter is one I really really want to read.
Cip/Golem, no need to take my job, I am sure you would be able to get one of your own and we could both be happy
Perhaps, that legacy you spoke of recently may help you on the way? Sebald is marvelous, isn’t he? Though you also might be happy to know there are 37 Saramagos some in English, some in Spanish and some in Portuguese.
Daphne, I know. At one point during the day I thought, I get paid for this? Cool.
Litlove, it is much like any sort of creative project, isn’t it? The results rarely match up to the imagination. But thank you for standing in virtual awe
I was delighted surprised at the Josipovici books in the catalog especially the nonfiction. I think I have found a corner of heaven.
Dorothy, I am sure you are more creative than you give yourself credit for! I am glad I only have to change the display every 3-4 weeks. As for length of check out, it depends on the book but it is usually a month with options to renew as many as three times. Though I have the power to change the due date
Jenclair, oh you will love the Jackson book then. It is somewhat scholarly but well written and quite enjoyable.
Melanie, What a great Banned Books display! Clearly I need to jump start my creativity a bit.
Carrie, lol, you are right about the Rule of Holds. Only all the books are currently available so they would arrive in 1-2 days to sit on my desk and taunt me