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April 27, 2006
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Get carded To my friend who likes to read: I bet I know why you don?t go to the library. You fear the homeless people on the front steps. You don?t know where those books have been. You don?t want to stand inside having no idea where to go (why can?t they label the sections with big signs like chain bookstores do?) and you hate the thought of having to interact with someone to find out. (?CONDOMS? YOU WANT BOOKS ON CONDOMS? JIMMY! YOUNG MAN HERE WANTS TO READ UP ON CONDOMS. SHOW HIM TO NONFICTION.?) You hate the smudgy plastic covers on the books and you hate worn, yellow, thumbed-through pages. You want new releases in mint condition and you want a caramel macchiato, hold the whipped cream. I know, me too. Tall decaf mocha. But you are missing out. Manchester City Library does not serve refreshments but it offers much else: ? A lovely outdoor lawn. (Not for walking on, but it looks so impressive.) ? Good street parking. ? DVDs available for one week?s borrowing. (The waiting list can get long for hot new releases, though.) ? Brand-new books, the latest releases, in near-mint condition, readily displayed near the library?s front entrance. There?s more ? DVDs and videotapes and CD-ROMs and a fine children?s room and community events ? but let?s stick to books. Books for you. You really want that just-published Julia Child memoir, My Life in France. I just checked online (three clicks): they have it. It?s currently checked out, but if I wanted to I could request it (one click); I am fifth in line and would be notified when it?s my turn. You also want The Dead Beat, by Marilyn Johnson, published last month. It?s there, currently checked out but with one click you could be first in line to get it as soon as it comes back. (And really, is just one patron or two going to turn its pages all gross? I don?t think so.) And Pride, by Michael Eric Dyson, the very latest in that series on the deadly sins. It?s there in all its pristine purple-jacketed glory, sitting in the rotunda of the library, waiting for you. Just like at Barnes & Noble but without the beverage and the price tag. They have all kinds of brand new cookbooks, and I know how you love those. Thick glossy never-been-touched pages. They have The Silver Spoon. They have cool things like the completely serious The Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime, by Carlo DeVito (from 2005 but still new), things you would never buy but you?d love to peruse. All 386 pages, not yellow or frayed. If only you would go. The key is to check often and snap up those pristine books early. And then if you never read the book, or you read it and hate it, so what? Returning is easy, with drive-by drop-off bins on Concord Street outside the library. And you can renew online. As for the homeless people ? the only unsavory elements I?ve noted at the library are lingering clouds of cigarette smoke outside the entrance, like at restaurants ? and that?s from people with homes, I?d wager. A large sign posted inside the front door about how the library is not a hotel seems to work ? that plus the full-time uniformed security officer roaming around. As for not knowing how to find books? Right up front, all the new ones. They have clean plastic covers and crisp pages and many still have no due-date card in their back pockets ? they?re virginal. I?m telling you, if you would give it a try, you?d be pleased. I?m not saying it?s a total replacement for Amazon and those others. I?m not saying you?ll never go anywhere else for books. But I am saying you?re missing out. AND you don?t have to navigate the retail hell of South Willow Street to go there. It?s like downtown but it?s off-downtown ? just far enough from Elm Street so that it?s peaceful. So far. Until droves of people like you start showing up. On second thought, forget it. Stay away. I like my library the way it is. Comments??Thoughts? Discuss this article and more at hippoflea.com |
Not a Manchester cardholder? If you live elsewhere in southern New Hampshire, it?s a good beat your library has some snazzy features as well. For example, in Nashua, the library does in fact feature a machine offering coffee to enjoy while you flip through a book in the caf? area (go to nashualibrary.org on the Gate City?s gem of a library). In Goffstown, a trip to the library will allow you to gaze at the wall where the city honors its soldiers going all the way back to the French and Indian War (goffstown.lib.nh.us). For more information on your city?s library, go to publiclibraries.com/newhampshire.htm.
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