Books

“I can’t live without books.” (Thomas Jefferson--as quoted on a bookmark given to me from the Library of Congress gift shop)

Recently, as I prepared to move, I sorted through my collection of books; those I would move, those I would donate, and those I would sell.  The latter were taken to the used bookstore. Two boxes of books, all in excellent condition, were sold for a whopping $13.

I had several boxes of books I wanted to donate to my Temple, but no one at the Temple was sure they wanted them.  I called around to other congregations. None of them were in a hurry to accept my donation.

Way leads on to way and finally, in response to my offer to donate books, I was asked if I would be willing to volunteer and organize the newly renovated Temple library space.  In order to donate my books, my wife and I each donated a dozen or so hours of volunteer time, sorting and arranging books into some semblance of usable order.

As part of my new volunteer library duty, I was also asked to sort through approximately forty boxes of Temple books and documents that had been in storage for over 20-years. From that I salvaged two boxes of good books. The rest I couldn’t sell or give away, so they were tossed.

Having added the two boxes of salvaged books plus my books to the newly organized library, I looked around.  Unfortunately, I concluded that it was not much of a library.  It was just a big room surrounded by partially filled shelves. It was a graveyard, a resting place for old books, books that if discarded would never be missed.  

What’s happening to books?  What’s happening to libraries? Recently, I was in the local high school library.  I looked around and noticed that something was missing . . . books.  I saw no encyclopedias, no papers, no magazines. There were a few scattered books on the shelves, but only a few.  The library had been converted into a hi-tech study center.

What’s happening to bookstores?  All over, independent bookstores are struggling. My two favorite used bookstores have gone out of business.  I used to love Borders, and now all the Borders are closed.  Barnes and Noble remains open but how long until they succumb to their on-line competitors?

I love books, the feel and smell of books, real books with paper pages and binding.  I’ve tried reading eBooks.  I can’t do it.  Like it says on my bookmark,” I can’t live without books,” but it seems as though real books are becoming problematic.

I worry about what will happen someday to my collection of books. I don’t know who will appreciate them and give them a good home. Walking through an antique mall the other day I saw a bookdealers advertisement.  It said, “Let me solve your book problem,” and offered to haul away any unwanted books. I kept the phone number.