Sunday Morning Book Thread 11-08-2026 [Sabrina Chase]

Welcome to the Book Thread, Guest Poster edition! I will be your host as we explore all sorts of book-related topics. All usual Book Thread rules are incorporated by reference (pets, beverage, clothing covering the lower limbs, etc.) with the special Sabrina Chase exemption for those stylish persons preferring kilts. Now let us proceed to today's topic, which is ...

The Book Thread exists for the love of books, and what better place to revel in the rich possibilities of the written word than a library? A proper library, that is, not a soulless industrial concrete outrage with not a single comfy chair or reading nook! A perfect library has these, and a rich collection, and a librarian.

A librarian is like a trail guide for all the wonders, especially for the young, easily overwhelmed by all the possibilities a library contains. Sometimes you just need a few books on mummies, for ... reasons.

I always made a point of befriending librarians -- an easy thing for a bookworm to do, and it can have unexpected benefits even beyond being allowed to check out books in the grown-up section! I was once granted the signal honor of being permitted to take and read a new book that *hadn't even gotten its little stamp card sleeve glued in yet!* (It was a book on the Black Death and I was going through a phase of yersina pestis fascination, and the school librarian knew and indulged me.)

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. The Books Must Return!

The shame, the agony of Overdue Fees! In the dark ages, they would not let you check out more books if you didn't pay! You may have noticed the general societal collapse when that stern but loving rule was removed... (Strangely enough, the Bloom County Barbarian Librarian bears a strong resemblance to Mrs. Friedman, that school librarian. Maybe that's why she encouraged me to get my Black Death fix ... A sweet lady, all of 5' nothing and I would never, ever cross her. Not in the library, anyway.)

And then later in life, even when I was all grown up and doing software testing for a living, I was quite pleased when I had a job working on library software--a complex system. (I can tell you more than you want to know about how Chinese and Japanese libraries sort things.) I was helping librarians! It felt good.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

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