Putting the current oeconomic stresses on libraries in historical context

If you've never read the Library History Buff Blog, you should. Larry Nix does an excellent job of commenting on and preserving snippets of library history. He is particularly fond of historical postcards.

Today he wrote about a library--facing cuts currently--and its experiences during the Great Depression and how it eventually overcame closure and cuts. It's definitely food for thought. Hopefully those facing cuts these days will thrive once more in better times, but for now, it's a very difficult time for libraries.

An interesting blog

I came across this in my reader today and have now subscribed to its feed. As a librarian with a history degree, I couldn't help but be interested in what he's writing about....check it out if you'd like to know more about the history of catalogue cards, machines of libraries past, or gems like the following poem by Norman D. Stevens from 1910:

A LIBRARIAN'S LIFE

A librarian's life is the life for me
For there's nothing at all to do, you see
But to sit at a desk and read new books
And admire yourself and think of your looks.
To questioning souls one can tartly say:
'I can't be bothered with you today,
for I haven't finished this novel, see?'
A librarian's life is the life for me.

Gods, even back then the stereotype of a librarian just reading all day was in full force. I don't know how many times people have told me how wonderful it must be to be able to sit and read all day at work--something I do rarely in the course of my job, and then to review books or determine whether to buy them. :) Anyway, this is a kind of window on the history of libraries, and well worth a read.

Library History Buff Blog

Thanks to Librarian for alerting me to this site.