Tag: libraries

Libraries are essential digital places too

Libraries provide so many public services, from great books to read to great places to read them. You’d likely be surprised just how much they provide. For example, here’s a list that my library, the Toronto Public Library (TPL), provides. All of that shows just how essential libraries are.

While libraries are great physical places, they are also great digital places. Check out this list to see what I mean. I’m a big user of TPL’s digital services, and I’m not alone is that regard. To see what I mean, check out the Toronto Public Library Dashboard and see in real time what ebooks people are checking out, how many loans happen each day, how many holds happen each day, and more! It’s quite something to see.

P.S. Did you know you that you can donate to the library? Well you can, though the TPL foundation. The link is here.

P.S.S. If you want that T shirt, you can go here. Be sure to pick the right size.

 

Reading as a defence against those that would ban and burn books

I’ve been thinking a lot about libraries recently. This started when I read about The Empty Library, shown above. As Wikipedia explains:

The Empty Library (1995), also known as Bibliothek or simply Library, is a public memorial by Israeli sculptor Micha Ullman dedicated to the remembrance of the Nazi book burnings that took place in the Bebelplatz in Berlin, Germany on May 10, 1933. The memorial is set into the cobblestones of the plaza and contains a collection of empty subterranean bookcases.

Just one of the many evil acts by the Nazis repudiated by others.

One way to defeat those who would commit such evil acts is to read more. One way to read more is by doing what Austin Kleon is pushing us to do here and take on a summer reading assignment. Do what he says: go to the library, get a card, check out some books. Read anything and everything the library can provide. Read recklessly. Read at whim. Read however you prefer. Read for pleasure. Read knowing that you stand against those who would prevent it if they could.

Book banning is not just something that happened in the past in Germany. It’s happening now in America and elsewhere. Push back when and where you can. One book at the time.

P.S. The story of the artwork, The Empty Library, is fascinating. I highly recommend it.

What’s cool? I thought these things were all pretty cool

Alan Rickman’s diaries have been published. You can see excerpts from them here. What I thought was cool was how he not just wrote a journal, but he wonderfully illustrated it.

Also cool is this cassette shaped white noise machine (shown above).

To me, Blade Runner is cool and more Blade Runner is also cool. So I was pleased to see that there will be an new TV show of it coming to Amazon Prime..

Libraries of course are cool. So to is the Libby App, which gives you free ebooks & audiobooks from your library.

Finally, here’s a cool story of how a British writer rediscovered what it means to be European by train. Train travel is the coolest.