Thursday News: libraries, SFF & environmentalism, devouring books, and budget cosplay
Publishing Newscosplay / devouring books / environmentalism / history of reading / Kim Stanley Robinson / Libraries / SFF3 Comments
The New 53rd Street Library Is Nice, Unless You Like to Read Books -Despite the very real need for readily available books, especially for low-income patrons, the New York Public Library’s CEO insists that public libraries are about more than books and reading. And while that’s hardly a bad thing, what does it mean when books are not actually the focus of a public library?
“The way people use our branches has changed,” says Weinshall. “People are relying less on materials and more on programming. They’re spending more time in our locations, and engaging with us in new ways: do a job search, look for an apartment, go online. We have outlets every five inches at 53rd Street.”
The new branch does indeed provide the perfect haven for checking stock prices and Twitter. Patrons can tap and scroll in tranquility, unmolested by the odor of caffeine, the need for a password, the feel of greasy tables, or a barista’s stare. As a place to research a school project or browse for esoteric bedtime reading, on the other hand, it offers dismaying advice: Try elsewhere. Order a book from the website. Download an e-book. Walk ten blocks to the perpetually derelict, perpetually to-be-renovated Mid-Manhattan branch for the Russian-language edition of Anna Karenina that used to be in the Donnell’s World Languages collection. “We didn’t take those books and cast them aside,” says NYPL vice-president Christopher Platt. “They were strategically moved and aligned to other collections.” – New York Magazine
Podcast: Kim Stanley Robinson Says ‘Either You’re An Environmentalist, Or You’re Not Paying Attention’ – Engaging interview with Robinson on the intrinsic connections between environmental changes and SFF. Things get particularly interesting when he discusses the implications of the ecological (aka “person and planet”) on narrative structure. – Smithsonian
Is ‘devouring’ books a sign of superficiality in a reader? – A thoughtful discussion of the relationship between eating and reading as it has evolved through centuries, and one that is particularly relevant to a genre where “devouring” books is simultaneously portrayed as positive and negative.
In the 18th century, writers began to distinguish between appetite(the connection between reading and the body) and taste(connection between reading and the mind). Hobbesian philosophy had depicted humanity as a cesspit of ungoverned appetite, and the poetry of Restoration Court culture made the bodily realm seem crude. Against these forces, the civilising discourse of taste was marshalled: appropriate literary desire was reimagined as a matter of the palate. Good reading became a sanitised activity, common to polite community. Those who craved, gobbled and devoured texts were, by implication, vulgar.
Novels particularly were associated with such habits of consumption, for they became a symbol of the newly accessible literary market. Commentators described them as feeding unwholesome appetites. In turn, certain readers were linked to novel-imbibing habits, particularly women. Describing their reading as consumption was a way of denigrating them, for it positioned them as vulnerable, ignorant and morally contagious. Gustatory metaphors often implied that women read according to the flesh, in contrast to the disembodied realm of ‘rational’ masculinity. – Aeon
Low Cost Cosplay: 20 excellent ideas for frugal but dedicated superfine – All I have to say is WOW. – Boing Boing
No books at all? I suddenly have the urge to gather up a whole bunch of readers and visit that library branch. It sounds like a quiet place to read. :)
I wonder if you can at least return books and get ILLs delivered there.
For me the library is still about books……having just returned this morning from my local branch with a stack of books, DVD and periodicals. But it’s true that most new libraries are geared for technology and media more than books, it killed me when my little neighborhood branch was remodeled into a haven for computers and DVD browsers this past year. In Los Angeles the reading/study areas of the public libraries are taken over by the homeless, with over 44,000 homeless in SoCal I don’t be grudge them a place to hang out, but I don’t find the library as appealing for reading as I used too. And then there is all the noise that comes with technology. Now Powell Library at UCLA is a great reading place and I can eat lunch while reading/surfing which I can’t do at the public library. And it’s quiet!
My library was recently moved from a 100 year old book haven to a state of the art modern building that provides new computers, charging stations, and 20 times the space of the old building with less than 1/4 of the books. Parking is better but costs $5/hour and instead of 10 librarians and helpers there is a fancy robot and 2 workers. If this is progress I’ll plan on not keeping up.