However, in completing my research proposal for Research Methods, I was brought back to the real reason why I applied to study here, beyond the professional training. I got an A+ on my proposal, and I am considering doing a Master’s thesis based on it. I will post the paper shortly, and I hope you all will give some comments.

However, inspired by a post at Walt at Random, I am going to talk a bit about Public libraries, and more particularly the one two blocks from my house. Walt Crawford was considering the fact that people tend to go shopping and spend money when they are bored, and I’ll quote him at length:

And there are always books to be read. A couple hundred thousand about 7 minutes away, neatly arranged and all for free!. I figure there are at least four or five thousand that I want to read or should read.

To those who feel the need to Go Out and Buy because they’re bored: Most places have one of these collections of free books and other materials, usually with experts who can help answer questions and find what you can use. Reading is a great way to conquer boredom. So are meditation and deep thinking, but I know that’s a lot to ask.

I think that everyone, librarians that is, has a picture of an ideal library. Or maybe it is just me.

I will say that I have a picture of an ideal library, and it stems from the tradition of monastic libraries which have evolved to the academic libraries we have inherited today. The picture of wizened men scouring materials to support arguments is something very compelling to me.

Not that the academic library is like that. There are a lot of negative things happening there, and a lot of positives–the number one being that it is no longer a domain of privileged men, but also of women and students and (in some cases) anyone else looking to study.

I am sure that there are some people whose ideal library is the public library. The community public library is a wonderful American invention, rooted in democratic ideals and evolving from the professional and trades libraries and the legacy of the Lyceums. I think it is a grand ideal, and one I subscribe to. And although I am rooted in the methods of the academic library, because I partially consider myself a scholar or at least it seems like I am travelling that route, I would also love to move to Northern Ontario and run some small library to aid a local community.

However, I think one of the reasons why people don’t go to the public library, and why I can’t really get excited by the libraries here in the city, is that they are not that good, at least for my own purposes. Why do people prefer to go to and spend money at Chapters and Indigo (the Canadian Barnes & Noble), opposed to getting things free at the library?

The libraries in Toronto have lovely architecture. Then you go inside, and they are ratty. Things are falling apart, carpets are ripped or stained. The one by my house has a magnetic security arm whose padding has been ripped and scotch tapped numerous times. There is a little children’s section which is often used, and the newspaper table which often has people reading. Outdated computers are actually well used, but they are locked down as you would expect.

For me, and this is a personal experience, the books are horrible. I remember walking to the library by my parent’s house when I was a primary and secondary student, and I quickly realized that I would soon read through all the good books there. Now that I am an adult I have no desire to browse the stacks at my local library. The main part of the collection is old and esoteric, and any new books are heavily weighted towards very popular fiction and non-fiction.

Not that there is not a market for them, but I am not that market. When I didn’t have a job in the library, and I took a year off between my undergrad and Master’s, I did use the library, but only to pick up books I ordered to there from interlibrary loan.

And if I were the type of person to spend money without thinking about it, I might never go to the public library at all. It is just not inviting to me. And not because it is not wired, nor because there are no poetry slam nights or teen parties or video game machines or anything else Library 2.0. It is because, compared to the bookstore which has every book I could want and in nice editions, the collection stinks, and the atmosphere is one of dinginess, with a defeated aura about the place. At least for this patron, and I am sure for others. And please take this as a personal reflection, your mileage may vary.