I bought a book...

...and DAMN it felt good.

Actually, I practically had to do it.

This morning I arrived at work an hour early to have some coffee, escape the heat and relax. I showed turned up at the 10th floor break room just as Pulitzer Prize Winner David Maraniss was about to talk about his book Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World. Maraniss is a fellow Badger (of sorts), and as I enjoyed his book on Vince Lombardi I hung around the edges of the twenty or so people gathered there to listen.

I quickly realized I needed a copy of the book, oath to not buy books be damned. During the question and answer session I sneaked down to the lobby, grabbed some cash and dashed back upstairs to buy my copy.

A few moments later I got to meet him and he signed my book. I introduced myself to the Madison resident as a Badger (I was wearing a Wisconsin cap). As we bantered I asked him if he would ever write a book about Hank Aaron and the 1957 Braves. He said he did not have plans to as he had already written the Roberto Clemente book, but he quickly noted that he was an admirer of Aaron. He also noted - to my delight - that a colleague of his was working on a book about Aaron. Unfortunately I cannot recall the author’s name as it was unfamiliar to me, but I will keep an eye out for such a project in the future.

Finally, I was able to slip him a copy of my chap book, which he graciously accepted.

Not a bad morning…

The April, May and June Tally

I have been lax on reporting my book savings for the last three months. You can chalk this up to it up to sloth and baseball season, but I have also checked out less books because my serial borrowing habits had resulted in an ever growing pile of unread books. Since April I have tried to borrow less and give more attention to the books I truly want to read.

That said, I went to the library on Sunday and checked out five books. Sometimes I cannot help myself.

Let's take a look at the last three months.

In April, May and June I checked out 19 books, two of which I acquired via inter library loan.

I determined that if I was currently buying books I would have bought 11 of the titles I borrowed for a combined total of $170.44.

According to the Denver Public Library's Value Calculator I received $305.00 in value from the Denver Public Library, and my personal return on investment for the three months was $73.35. This means that for every dollar I spent in taxes, I received $73.35.

So there you have it, I am half way through my year of not buying books and so far so good, though I must add that I have used my lifeline. I will fill in the details with my next post.

The Putnam Rolling Ladder Company

The New York Times ran a delightful piece on the Putnam Rolling Ladder Company this weekend. I mention this because I've encountered their ladders, well, one of them, while in library school at the home office of one of my bosses.

He was so proud of his library ladder. "The Putnam Rolling Ladder Company," he'd say with a profound sense of joy as he eyeballed the creation they'd sent him.

A Little Book

A few weeks back I couldn't help but post a photo of a box of tiny books (if you could even make out what they were from the photo.)

My friend Dylan (who once almost lost an inadvertent duel with a vending machine) is a talented illustrator, and I am happy to report that he was kind enough to take a very short story of mine and turned it into a wonderful little book:

To read Skyscrapers, Parking Garages... in its entirety and see some of Dylan’s other works, please click here.

It's a bit like gardening

One of the unintended consequences of not buying books for a year is that I have not kept up with the books I currently own.

When I am actively adding to my library, I constantly shift and reorder my books to make way for new items or to highlight emerging themes. Without adding books, however, my shelves now sadly occupy a nearly forgotten corner of our apartment. I still read individual titles quite often, but a sense of maintaining them as a collective has suffered.



I noticed this afternoon that my modest collection and the shelves it rests upon have started to atrophy. Several shelves featured slanted books (bad for the spine) where gaps had not been properly closed, and every shelf was covered in a layer of dust (bad for the paper) that suggested neglect.

To that end I spent the evening listening to a truly atrocious Brewers game while I dusted, reordered and reshelved my books. It may sound boring, but it was actually a relaxing and welcome chore that took my mind off of a busy work week and a child with an ear infection.

I was also reminded how maintaining a library is a bit like gardening, for libraries, like gardens or cemeteries, take on a life of their own when not tended to. In some ways it is comforting to know my library will morph into something that resembles a more natural state without my presence, but then, what fun is that for me?

Hmm

Worth using my lifeline?

Books!

Not the April tally, granted, but books! April and May tallies very soon...

Lady Chatterly Discarded...

...on Capitol Hill earlier this week, the Penguin paperback edition. What would decency crusader Anthony Comstock say?

For some reason

I am experiencing difficulty blogging the April tally. I have the numbers all ready to go, and yet...

Serial Holding

In the past I've written about serial borrowing, in which, drunk on the possibilities of borrowing nearly any book I want, I borrow them all at once.

A spin-off of this phenomenon is serial holding, in particular, serial holding of new books. This is a tricky proposition as new books are in greater demand than the old or merely recent, and as it is hard to gauge that demand, often enter the library's system in small quantities.

In the last month or so my holds queue has witnessed the arrival and delivery of the following titles: Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance by Dean Wareham, Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier and Neil Gaiman, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu, and The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel.

While none of these titles currently top best seller lists, they share in common, that relative to their audience, they are new and in demand. They are also titles currently in my possession or recently in my possession. Finally, I have not had the chance to crack the spine on a one of them (no doubt to the annoyance of those waiting for them).

Call it a case of too many new books and not enough time. I have to admit, I'd love to have these titles aging on my shelves for just the right moment.

Coming soon: the April tally.

Travel

I'm flying to San Francisco tomorrow to visit some friends for a few days. As always Ill pack a few books and, as always, I'll forgo cracking a single one of them open, opting instead for International CNN or an overpriced and ever so slightly out-of-date magazine.

So, why do I do it? And why do I risk taking a library book on a flight, increasing the risk of losing it?

I think, in part, because books are like travel companions, especially when traveling alone. Even on a brief trip, even an unread book can keep you anchored, reminding you either of home or a need to explore.

As it is, I rarely leave home without my copy of New Goose by Lorine Niedecker. It's small, readable, and something you just don't encounter at every library or Barnes & Noble. Even if I am just walking to and from work.

Pretentious? Possibly. Well, probably. And I've been known to carry even worse with me, say, James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men or Joyce's Ulysses. Why? Well, God forbid, but what if something happened? What if I got lost, or worse? Who better than Agee or Niedecker having your back when approaching a complete stranger for help?

Sometimes you pick the author, the library picks the book

I'm always on the lookout for Western authors. Not Western in the sense of Louis L'Amour or Zane Gray, but 20th Century to the present, perhaps embodied by Wallace Stegner or possibly even Raymond Chandler.

So I was excited to read in this Westword blog post about John Fante, in honor of his 99th birthday. Fante, who died in 1983, was an under-the-radar author from Colorado. Apparently his childhood experiences in Colorado shape and shade many of his writings, though many take place in California. I also learned that he inspired and influenced Charles Bukowski, but I won't hold that against him.

The author of at least ten novels, multiple short stories and screenplays, the Denver Public Library has plenty of his titles amongst their holdings. The one I found when I stopped at the Central Library on a break this afternoon was The Brotherhood of the Grape. I know next to nothing about this title written by an author I know next to nothing about.

But I am looking forward to getting started.

The March Tally

Mismanagement of my fantasy baseball team and a seventeen-month-old with an ear infection have kept my hands full of late, but I will get back into the swing of things as I have several observations and items to share about not buying books.

After three months I am surprised at how easy it has been to acclimate to what I thought would be a major shift in my spending and reading habits. Maybe it is the ease with which I can reserve books online, or that the library is so close to my work. Three months into this thing I have not had a major urge to buy a book.

I will be curious to see if that trend continues as the days get longer and, more importantly, hotter. Not being a native, I find Colorado summers rather unpleasant. Many people hole up and read during winter, perhaps I will reverse that trend and increase my reading – and perhaps my desire for books – in the summer.

More on that later, let’s take a look at the March tally:

I checked out 12 books this month. One of these books I acquired via Prospector. I am proud to report I actually finished a few of them, including Graham Greene’s The Ministry of Fear.

Of these 12 books, I determined that I would definitely have bought 7 of them. These books would have cost roughly $95.25.

When I plug these numbers into the Denver Public Library's "Library Value Calculator," for my 12 books (1 of which was an inter library loan):

My individual return on investment for March was $45.69. This means for every dollar in taxes I spend on the library, I received $45.69 value in return for the month.

In addition, the Library Value Calculator reports that for the month of March I received a monthly value of $190.00.

More soon!

Won't you wear a sweater?

It's Sweater Day. You know, for Mr. Rogers.

That uncertain feeling

I just got back from the library on my lunch break and it hit me that I had nothing to pick up from the holds shelf. I cannot recall the last time this has happened.

Impulse borrower

One thing I've noticed as I've switched from buying books to borrowing them is that I have also become an impulse borrower, much more so than I was a buyer. Though I often have several books out at once, the eight that I currently have checked out are too much for me as they vie for attention with several other books I own, Tomorrow, then, I'll be returning some of them because I am not going to get to them.

This includes the much discussed Zazie in the Metro, of which I have only read half. That said, Zazie and her uncle Gabriel have already left their mark on me. And who's to say you can't go back later and pick up where you left off?

The book I would buy if I was buying books

I’m Off for a Bit, Then by Hape Kerkeling. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it will not be available in English until 2009. Perhaps I will get a chance to buy it.

Kurt, Hal and Mr. Clemens

I've always held a particular fondness for Kurt Vonnegut's Timequake. I was fortunate to get to hear him speak at my college around the time of its release, and his appearance and my reading of the book coincided. I recall recognizing many of his Timequake stories and phrases from that evening as he delivered them in person.

Several years later I caught him again at the same venue. The almost spry, professorial speaker I witnessed a few short years before had been replaced with one of a slower gait and more measured delivery. He still made quite an impression, though, and the mounting years and his declining health did little to diminish his embrace of humanity and many of its foibles.

I left the theater that night feeling that I would yet see him again. After all, this second appearance had been unexpected. But I did not. As many of you know, rumors of Vonnegut's demise last year were not exaggerated; Kurt had flown.

I've been making my way through Timequake again, at a leisurely pace. This is the first time I've read Vonnegut since he died and I find myself comforted by his humor and wisdom, yet missing his presence.

Vonnegut spoke of Mark Twain almost as a mentor or kindred spirit. Alas, they are no more, and that is why I jumped at the opportunity to see Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! last night at the Temple Buell Theater. I was not disappointed.

Now in his eighties, Holbrook has outlived - in age - Twain by several years, though one could argue reaching your seventies in Twain's time was probably harder than it is to reach your eighties in ours.

Regardless, Holbrook cut a fine figure as Twain, a reformed southern gentleman of sorts. His portrayal of a world weary sort unable to completely suppress his own glimmer did recall the times I saw Vonnegut. Whereas Vonnegut carried himself as the wise and wisecracking everyman in tweed, Holbrook as Twain was lighter on his feet and a bit more unrepentant about the boyish rogue that lurked within him.

This boyishness cursed by age and knowledge held court throughout the evening. It shone through most obviously during his second act rendition of a scene from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Here Holbrook channeled Huck and Jim with an ease that led one to believe the man on stage had actually lived the events he was acting out. What more can you ask of an actor?

The bulk of the performance served as a forum for Twain's trademark and undeniably American wit. His partly cloudy take on the human race tried to leave no stone unturned, from drunks to wives, to teetotalers, to loafers and the overly ambitious. Above all, he made sure his quiver held special arrows for journalists, politicians and preachers. And he was not afraid to let fly!

Judging by the constant laughter of the packed house and the standing ovation he received at the close of the show, Holbrook clearly channeled Twain to great success. I left the theater feeling replenished, my own skepticism intact.

In tribute, the unrepentant boy in me made sure to stop off on my way home for a four-pack of root beer, some of which I polished off whilst watching some Looney Tunes when I got home. You know, Merry Melodies.

...

As an addendum I would like to add that on my way home I did stop at the 16th Street Mall Barnes & Noble and was verily tempted to pick up some Twain by using my emergency, lifeline gift card. In the end I held off, and this morning I placed some Twain on hold through the public library. My lifeline remains intact!

The February Tally

Alright, it's the first of March and I've got my February book tally. I checked out 12 books this month - 3 of which I received via the Prospector inter library loan service. I used many of the books as reference or read just a chapter or two of. Others, like The Moviegoer, Zazie in the Metro and How to Rig an Election I am on my way to completing. But more on those later, for now let's go to the tally!

As explained last month I keep a spreadsheet of the titles I check out and what each one costs according to the book jacket. Then I take the price of each book from the web sites for Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to come up with an average price. Finally, I determine which books I would have definitely purchased were I buying books to come up with my monthly savings. In addition to this I enter my books into the Denver Public Library's value calculator.

I determined that I would have purchased 7 out of the 12 books I checked out for a savings of $103.46.

According to the Denver Public Library's "Library Value Calculator" for my 12 books (3 of which I obtained via inter library loan):

I received $50.50 individual return on investment meaning for every dollar in taxes I spend on the library, I received $50.50 value in return for the month of February.

I received a monthly value of $210.00 for the month of January.

...
As an aside, tonight I am going to see recent Oscar nominee Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! at the Temple Buell Theater. Hope to have a report for you tomorrow.

Zazie in the Metro? Oui, oui!

As noted in my last post I was in need of a copy of Raymond Queneau's Zazie in the Metro middle of this week. When I could not find one at either Denver Public or the 16th Street Mall Barnes & Noble (this all took place on a lunch break) I decided to let it go for the moment.

That is when Michelle from Denver Public gently reminded me about Prospector:

Hi,

I have a search feed for Denver Public Library so I occasionally see your
posts. I checked Prospector and a couple local libraries have the Zazie book,
including DU, and it says it's currently available so with your DPL card you can
place a hold on it and should get it in a couple days. http://prospector.coalliance.org/

Hope that's helpful.

Michelle

February 20, 2008 6:13 AM

It was helpful and I now have a copy of Zazie courtesy Prospector and the University of Denver Penrose Library.

I know I have mentioned Prospector before but I do not think I've explained or described it. Basically it is an agreement among some libraries in Colorado and Wyoming to provide inter library loan services to members of those libraries. It also offers a singular search platform.

Their web site describes it as:

Prospector is a unified catalog of twenty three academic, public and special
libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. Through Prospector you have access to over 20
million books, journals, DVDs, CDs, videos and other materials held in these
libraries. With a single search you can identify and borrow materials from the
collections and have them delivered to your local library.

I am quite a fan of Prospector, actually, and I believe this is my 4th book this year that I have obtained through the system. Part of what makes it so user friendly is that I do not have to go through a Denver Public search before accessing it. If I have the feeling that a certain title might be somewhat obscure, I often go to Prospector first. That way it will search Denver Public's holdings as well as the other libraries in the Prospector system. It's a nice intermediate step between my local library and WorldCat.

---
On a completely unrelated note I downloaded the latest album by The Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride this morning. Somehow I found the time to to listen to the album twice in its entirety today and I am particularly smitten with the first two tracks, "Sax Rohmer #1" and "San Bernadino."

To say I have been meaning to check The Mountain Goats out for a while would be an understatement. A friend first played them for me back in 1995 or 1996. Though I remember liking them, my introduction came at a time when I was trying to break out of my indie rock shell. And so I shelved them, but only for a dozen years.

That initial impression stuck with me, though, and work this evening I tracked down the first song of theirs I ever heard, "New Star Song" from the 1996 ep Beautiful Rat Sunset, all based on the way he sang "Canada."

Zazie in the Metro?

I went to the Barnes & Noble on the 16th Street Mall today is search of Raymond Queneau's Zazie in the Metro. Denver Public Library doesn't have a copy and rather than wait for an inter library loan I was tempted to use my $25 "lifeline" to pick it up.

Alas the Barnes & Noble did not have a copy either.

This was my first real trip to a book store since I started not buying books. It was like visiting old friends. I stopped and read the opening passages of Fahrenheit 451 and was intrigued by the cover of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel pictured below.

But I didn't buy any books. Not even this one:

The customer copy of the The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings at Twist & Shout Records has a cracked spine

But shows no signs of stopping.

The book I would buy if I was buying books

The Almanac of American Politics.

Chris Cillizza told me to get a copy last fall, but did I listen? Nope.

We have a copy at work and I turn to it often. At $65 it's out of reach of my $25 lifeline.

Alas...

I loves me some GoodReads

I joined the literary social networking site GoodReads late last year after my friend Dave invited me. At first I balked at participating, I was already a member of LibraryThing and had spent considerable time building my catalog on that site.

But I joined GoodReads anyway and am happy for having done so.

In many regards, GoodReads and LibraryThing are very similar. Both allow you to catalog your books and reach out to other readers. I have become a convert to GoodReads, however, because it better promotes the social networking aspects of its capabilities than LibraryThing. For some reason the Thing got my cataloging juices flowing, but not my desire to communicate. This is well and good as it is a far easier platform to maintain a catalog of my collection than, say Excel or Access, yet, there it sits.

That said, I visit GoodReads several times a week. I cannot recall the last time I added anything to my LibraryThing site.

Janaury Tally

One month down, eleven to go. In my quest to not buy a book for an entire year I checked out 7 books in the month of January. At first glance I was surprised at how few books I did check out, but that is close to two a week.

I kept a spreadsheet of my titles, what each book cost and whether I thought I would have purchased each title or not. Then I took an average of the book cover price and what it sells for on Amazon.com and through Barnes & Nobles web site.

I determined that I would have purchased 5 of those 7 books. Since I checked them out instead I saved $79.71.

According to the Denver Public Library's "Library Value Calculator" my 7 books:

I received $27.66 individual return on investment meaning for every dollar in taxes I spend on the library, I received $27.66 value in return for the month of January.

Also according to the calculator, my seven books, one of which I received via inter library loan, I received a monthly value of $115.00 for the month of January.

Not bad.

The Brilarian

I will have a recap of how my first month of not buying books went later on this weekend. For the time being, though, it's Friday, The Soup and Best Week Ever are on. And also this is what my wife thinks I look like as an M&M:

I've dubbed it The Brilarian.

This post has nothing to do with libraries, save that my M&M self is holding a book.

Then you find the Uzbek warlord

One album I cannot stop listening to in the year or so since I first picked it up is Olé! Tarantula by Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. I've always liked Robyn, but this is the first album of his I've become fanatical about. It doesn't hurt that his band includes Pete Buck of R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows, who help give the album a late 80s college rock feel that sounds remarkably fresh and undated.

Of my favorite tracks is the acoustic guitar and single-finger piano tune "Belltown Ramble." When I lived in Seattle I worked very close to Belltown, and thus know the neighborhood rather well. In his narrative Robyn walks its streets, muses on life and:

Then you find the Uzbek warlord
You collide with Tamerlane
His teeth are brown

Tamerlane. I know that name, but from where? Ah yes, the 14th Century Tatar ruler and conqueror. Hasn't someone written a biography on him?

Well yes, as a matter of fact, several people have, the recent book of most note being Justin Marozzi's Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World.

Only Denver Public Library does not hold a copy. Fortunately, nearby Jefferson County’s library does, and through the remarkably easy Prospector Inter Library Loan service I was picking up their copy on my lunch break yesterday.

"This was easier than falling off the couch," I told the circulation librarian, who seemed quite pleased to hear it.

Thanks Robyn. Thanks Prospector.

(Photo from Wikipedia.)

Holding

Last night on A Daily Show, John Stewart interviewed former political operative Allen Raymond on his book of campaign dirty tricks How To Rig an Election.

With the presidential primary campaigns in full gear, this is one of several books on the topic currently floating around, and one I probably would have picked up on my lunch break this afternoon.

Instead I placed a hold through the library. The library's one copy of the book is currently being processed and I am number 7 in the holds list.

I am posting this as a place marker as I am to see how long it takes before I get the book.

Update:

I checked out my copy of How to Rig an Election on 2/28, the day after I was contacted that it was available. By my count it took 37 days for me to get my copy. At the time of my request there was one copy in the system. I just check the library's holdings and they now have eight, reflecting some demand for the book.

For this title - which I read completely - the wait was acceptable. In fact, it was a good but not great book, but one that I would have bought nonetheless. Waiting for the book to become available definitely saved me money.

On a related note, once I place a hold on a book I rarely cancel it before it comes in. I think this reflects my needs as a reader and the Denver Public Library's ability to respond in a timely fashion to those needs.

A funny thing happens when you stop buying books

You buy more records. Or at least I do.

Today it was Al Green's I'm Still in Love With You, last week it was two albums by Wisconsin polkabilly legends the Goose Island Ramblers.

I can already hear people telling me 'But Barry, you can get music at the library too.'

Yeah, well...

Instant gratification

I can easily think of half a dozen books from the last six months that I simply had to pick up immediately upon becoming aware of their existence, the last of these being Millard Kaufman's Bowl of Cherries.

In fact it was on a lunch hour trip to Barnes & Nobles with a friend where I struck out on picking up the nonagenarian debut novel, when said friend asked "you still buy books?" That question partially planted the seed of my attempt to not buy books. I later found the book at Tattered Cover after deciding the library's wait list for their one copy was too long.

Invariably, my experience with Bowl of Cherries mirrored many of my must-read-right-now purchases; I devoured the first third, slowed down through the second and the final rests on my bookshelf caring not a whit whether I ever get around to finishing. Not that you have to finish a book to enjoy it.

And so the familiar madness afflicted me late this morning when I learned of an overlooked gem of a baseball book that featured the 1982 Brewers, Daniel Okrent's 9 Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game. How could this be? How could I not read it already? I must have it right now!

And there it was on Amazon, presumably not in local bookstores (it was written over 20 years ago), but easily obtained within the week.

Except I’m not buying books.

I logged on to the Denver Public Library's site and steeled myself for the prospects of an interminable wait while my ILL request traced through the nation’s federated library systems. Then, huzzah! There it was, in DPL's system and even on the shelves. What luck! What happy, happy luck!

Within half and hour, my transaction - not purchase - complete, I happily thumbed through my book with thoughts of really sinking my teeth into it later this evening.

---

As a follow up to yesterday's list on the best bookstores in the world, today I came across an AP story on the Seattle Times site of must visit bookstores in the U.S. Happily they include the LoDo Tattered Cover along with Seattle's wonderful Elliott Bay Book Co., which I still pine for.

As if to taunt me...

I stumbled (via Andrew Sullivan) upon this list from The Guardian of the 10 best book shops in the world. I love that they had the guts to place a Borders (in Glasgow) on its list.

When in Denver it's hard to beat the Colfax Ave. Tattered Cover for atmosphere and selection of new books, unless of course, you counter with its LoDo location. For used and antiquarian I am also fond of The Hermitage in the Cherry Creek Neighborhood and Books Buffs down on South Pearl. And then there's Fahrenheit's Books on Broadway which rarely lets me down in the used fiction department...I could go on.

Alas, it will be some time before I dare peruse their hallowed shelves.

How much this free stuff?

We're into the second week of the year and I have four books and one CD via inter library loan (ILL) checked out from the library.

One of my goals in trying to not buy a book for an entire year was to save some money. You can tally the retail value of the books you borrowed rather than bought, but rarely do you pay full retail price for a book. Stores often have sales, run online discounts, or if you're like me you get to know you're used bookstores.

Another option that I like is the Denver Public Library's "Library Value Calculator" which asks the simple question, "For every $1.00 in taxes you spend on the Denver Public Library, how much do you receive in return?"

The calculator has you fill in the number of items or services you use per month from the library and it tallies a total.

Based on my four books and ILL item my personal Return On Investment according to the calculator is...

$20.44 "For every $1.00 in taxes you spend on your library, you receive $20.44 of value in return*"

There is also a Value of Service calculator which reports my 4 checked out books carry with them a combined value of $60.00 and my ILL of $25.00 for a combined $85.00

I am working on my own tabulation of monthly savings based on some of the possibilities I mentioned above. At the end of the month I hope to have my own set of numbers to compare with those tabulated by the calculator.

In library school we were asked infinite times on how we would best to promote our library once we got out into the real world. It struck me yesterday, as I checked out some items that DPL should find a way to include these values on each library check out receipt. It couldn't hurt to remind people of a positive return on their tax dollars.

On browsing and drive-thrus

Today marked my second visit to the library in as many days. These were harried errands because the work was piling up and time too precious to spend taking a break. But I wanted my books as soon as I could get my hands on them.

And so I marched into the downtown branch of the Denver Public Library, went directly to the reserve shelf, grabbed and checked out my books (reserved each night before electronically) and strode out of the library without nary a moment to browse.

Though I'd have liked to.

Unfortunately for me the library's hours largely mirror my work hours. I clock in at 9:45 each morning and leave at 6:45. Three out of five workdays the library's hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The other two weekdays they open at 10 a.m. but do not close until 8 at night. Problem is, I have the tiniest of windows to get home before my young daughter goes to bed. It's a drag when you miss saying goodnight to your daughter.

What I wouldn't give for a 9 a.m. opening, just one day during the week!

For the time being that leaves my best, most convenient browsing option to the Internet. Don't get me wrong, DPL's virtual access is amazing and I can obtain nearly everything I want from my living room any hour of the day, just not so much the physical books or access to the physical library.

I've always felt at home at the library and some libraries even feel like sacred places. My first local library was in a former church, the children’s section housed in the area of the old alter. With the sacred also comes the profane, and when I was slightly older I first knowingly encountered homeless people at the downtown branch of the Milwaukee Public Library. There's nothing inherently profane about homeless people, but there is about homelessness. And on through the years I encountered wonderful, larger-than-life (yes) people at the library and the magic has never worn off. I met my wife at the library and it only took me the better part of two years to ask her out.

---

A friend in Wisconsin wrote me earlier in the week after checking out this site and he offered a very different take on the physical library than my own when describing his library uses. My friend loves his personal book collection but he also uses his library's electronic reserves and inter library loan quite a bit. He does not feel much attachment to the physical library, however:

"So, I'd reserve a book online using my library account, and when I was alerted that the book was on the hold shelf (under my name) I'd go pick it up and check it out. And then I'd quickly get the hell out of the library.

I have a few other librarian friends, and they couldn't quite get the concept that I don't want to "hang-out" at the library. They didn't understand, that for some, the library isn't a community center; it's a service provider. From that service, I want a book, and I want to pick it up quickly and easily and then be able to return it in the same fashion. I don't want to loiter."

I wonder if he's on to something. Will there come a day when libraries are more of a drive-thru service than community space? Have they already reached that point? I wonder if I haven’t adapted to that model already.

Clearing the first hurdle

I walked right into the lions' den today - Barnes & Noble - to find a desk calendar for the New Year. As expected they were holding a big post holiday sale and as I perused the calendars a Marvel Comics book of Spiderman sketches caught my eye.

Now this is something I'd normally glance right over, but it was 50% off!

Instinctively my hand shot out to give the book the once over and just as quickly I withdrew it. I suddenly remembered I wasn't buying books this year. I suppose I could have flipped through it, but why tempt fate?

In the end I didn't even buy a calendar, not today anyway. I had picked out an obnoxiously cute kitten calendar (I work with some real manly men and a kitten calendar on my desk would have really confused them), but the line was too long for me to wait through on my lunch break.

Why am I doing this and what are the ground rules?

I must be crazy because I love books and in particular I love my books. Whether I am an impatient product of my age or just impatient, when I want a book I go out and get it as soon as possible. I spend most of my disposable income on books.

And yet, for multiple reasons, I've decided to try to spend the next year not buying books. This might not seem like a task worth mentioning for many, but I suspect it will fundamentally alter the way I select and obtain my reading materials. It might ultimately change the way I read.

Why I'm doing this

I am a librarian and I love libraries. Though I am very happy with my current job as a special librarian with a private company, most of my customers are in-house and my job is industry specific. I started this blog in large part to create a way to stay connected with the greater library world. Not buying my own books will create a dependence on the public library I have never experienced before.

Other reasons include the simple curiosity of whether I can go an entire year without buying books, an attempt to save money, and to have something to write about that others might find interesting.

For the most part I hope to post shorter length items several times a week rather than sporadic, but longer posts. Though I briefly listed my reasons for starting this blog above, I plan on writing about those reasons in greater detail in future posts.

I do not know if this is an original idea or not, though I am guessing not. Once I decided to go forward with this, though, I decided to not search for other examples.

The ground rules:

For the calendar year 2008 I will try to not buy any books, but rather obtain my reading materials from my local library or other outlets, such as borrowing from friends. I will accept books as gifts, but I will not ask for specific books. If I do buy a book, I'll fess up and report the lurid details of my fall on this site.

In short, I will not buy any books this year, no exceptions.

Exception #1

I have a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card left over from Christmas. This will be my lifeline. In the event that I simply must buy a book, I will use this card. Once it is used up, there is no more.

Exception #2

I have several friends involved in the book arts, be it as a publisher, author or artist. If they roll out new material during the year I am going to purchase copies as I have in the past.


It’s too late to turn back, here I go…