A Post-Book World

FROM WHERE I SIT      A POST-BOOK WORLD?    FEB. 19, 2014     PAT SPILSETH

A lit-up NOOK appeared at our book club last evening!  Several club members sheepishly admitted ordering books on their Nooks and Kindles.  They justified their behavior by claiming it’s easier to travel with the lightweight digital marvels.  Another insisted that she could read in bed with her Kindle’s tiny light and not disturb her husband.  

Amazed and aghast, I wondered what was happening to my group of diehard book lovers, who usually read 3 or 4 books at the same time.  At my house, books are on my nightstand, on a table by my reading chair, even in the bathroom.  I seriously began to wonder, is technology taking over my friends’ lives?  What’s happenned to these previously devoted fans of hard-bound books in local libraries and book stores?  I dread to think of what’s happennng to our little bookstores.  Will they disappear like so many individually owed shops?  Is technology taking over bookstores and libraries, like texting and emails have replaced good grammar and complete sentences with subjects and verbs?  

It’s a bit embarassing, but I haven’t read a book on the Kindle I received a year ago.  I love real books, feeling their weight in my hands as I read.  Turning the pages, I move from my world of freezing Minnesota winter temperatures into imagined worlds of romantic Paris or exotic St. Petersberg or Carnival time in Rio.  I can be dining on the Champs Elysee, riding a polo pony across the pampas of Argentina or perhaps I’ll become a brilliant Swedish journalist solving some gruesome crime in the hinterlands.   Oh, the worlds I can inhabit!  Magic enters my world because of books and my vivid imagination.  

I know the same magical possilities are in my little, light-empowered Kindle, but I haven’t adjusted to its technology at this point.  I’m still a dinosaur when it comes to changing my reading habits, hanging clothes on a clothesline outdoors and baking calorie-laden chocolate treats..., but I’ m fhappy and content.

Circulation of books is falling at libraries throughout the country.  My local library has shortened its hours.  Sadly, they decided to close on Sunday, the lonelinest day of the week for many.  I think Sunday might be the most important day for libraries to be open.  Folks gravitate to local libraries to be among others reading the newspaper and magazines, checking out a good read, typing on a computer, or seeking a quiet spot to meditate away from the chaos of everyday life.  People look to libraries for inspiration, research, instruction and new ideas.  Those without a computer or the internet can use the library’s machines with no charge except a small printing charge.  

It’s been difficult for many people to get out of their homes this winter with the endless snowfalls, icy roads, and freezing temperatures.  The available technology of Nooks and Kindles, computers and iPads have helped readers find books, magazines and newspapers to read without going outside their homes.  Electronic downloads have more than doubled since 2011.  Minnesota is filled with historic Carneige libaries, vital to every community for many years; however, fewer people are visiting these buildings to check out books.  

With visitor numbers plumeting, libraries are exploding with new programs seeking creative ways to get people in their doors.  Musical performances, talks by local authors, computer classes and more are available to library users.  One of the more important programs is computer training aimed at adults needing computers for job hunts and other research.  Some libraries provide 3-D printers for resume printing; some see their role as a communal gathering place.  In per capita e-books, Minnesota ranks in the top five.  E-book availability is expanding.  Digital downloads could bring in a whole new group of people, those who hate carrying heavy books and those who prefer to purchase their books.

Libraries have an identity crisis as they try to be all things to all consumers and figure out a niche.  We’ve done away with card catalogues and bespeckled librarians forbidding kids to check out books, which she didn’t think are acceptable for that age and maturity level.  Today’s libraries have added playlands and interactive activities for kids, drive-up windows and eye-catching programming such as lectures on beer, with samples at a nearby pub, and classes on writing your memoirs, mysteries or romances.  Modern day librarians don’t shush patrons anymore, but the area for lIttle kids can be noisy with all their activities.  Usually one can find quiet and soft chairs in a reading area among walls of books.  Libraries of today provide a cornecopia of activities.

Whether you’re a heavy book devotee or a KIndle, iPad or Nook reader, enjoy the magic that reading books can bring to our everyday lives.  810 words