How has a librarian or booklover impacted your life?

How has a librarian or booklover impacted your life?

Book lovers in person and online are a great resource to me. I find unusual and informative books that i would never otherwise know about.
The only library I worked with seemed to be a lot more concerned about budget, “status” books that are not read, and circulation numbers than procuring books for the local population. The advent of ebooks is a huge help.

As the oldest of four children, I know my parents read to me and my father took me to the main library in Philadelphia, which was about 1-1/2 miles from my house. Those initial trips to the library hooked me. During the summers, once I was old enough, I walked there a few times a week to spend time reading and take about books. Remember those card catalogs? They fascinated me!

My mother taught me the love of books. At one point in our life we lived almost next door to a library. It brings fond memories of walking over every week during the summer and searching out new titles. There is something about holding pages between your hands that cant be replaced

Yes Nancy Pearl. Nancy is the Seattle librarian that started the One Book Program that so many libraries enjoy today. If you are not familiar it is the idea that everyone in the city is reading the same book. My job as a librarian at my library district was to bring authors to our library to discuss their current book. Once a year I bought a one book author. We would announce the book in January and then in May have the author come and talk. It was always a success. We would have over 800 patrons attend the program. We would have the program at out Performing Arts Center since our library would not accommodate that many people. Nancy also came to our library to discuss book clubs with our staff. I was the book club coordinator and had over 200 book clubs that I supplied with books. I credit Nancy with getting our staff interested in book clubs. Also with each visit she would have a program in the evening where she book talked her favorite books for our patrons. If you are not familiar with Nancy visit her website. She is an amazing person and I am pleased to call her my friend!

I have always had a fear of librarians, but my love for books outweighed the fear. Because of my enjoyment of books, my children also read whenever possible.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s and my mother used to take my sister and me to our hometown library every Saturday and we'd stay there all morning. I loved it. I'd read there and then come with a huge stack of books to read during the week. I had a favorite cottonwood tree in our yard that I sat in and read. I can't remember the librarians' names, but I absolutely loved story hour. They, and my parents, instilled in me a love of books and reading.

When I was growing up, I did not access to the internet, so my Mom or Dad had to take my sister and I to the library to do our research for papers for school projects. We loved it. Librarians taught us so much. As I result, I became a resource to my friends. They would ask me to go with them to the local library to help them with their own papers. I still love spending time at the library.

After retiring from running two book clubs for 15 years I had a note from one of my participants who very eloquently thanked me for introducing her to so many books she would never have chosen on her own. That made all my efforts meaningful and worth it.

I grew up in a very small town. The nearest public library was 19 miles away and my parents both owned and operated small businesses, so they were not always free to take me to the library. During school, that was no problem since I had access to books at school. My older cousins also passed books along to me. When I was in high school, though, a dear woman in my town, an avid reader herself, loaned me books from her private library. Her kindness has stayed with me always and has made me wish to share my books---even when I don't always get them returned. She taught me the value of sharing good books.

Libraries seem to do it all. They open their doors to poetry workshops, and poetry readings. My book group meets in the library, where our leader is able to bring in authors or skype authors. It is great to be able to ask questions of an author. Sometimes I feel like I am in an art gallery. One neighborhood library holds art shows in their gallery. There are amazing photos and paintings. There are movies for children and adults and yoga for exercise. And if you can't get to them, give a call and they will deliver the books to you. Please support your local libraries.

My father was a great book lover and no matter how hard times were subscribed to 2 different book clubs. We always had 4 books coming to the house per month.( We supplemented these with our local library which was 2 blocks away.) I read the new books after my father finished reading them. It took him a while to realize that I was reading everything that came into the house. He caught me reading one that was not meant for 11 year old girls. When asked what else I had been reading and I replied everything. He then cautioned me to balance my reading with fiction, non-fiction, and classics. To this day I try to do that.

My circle of friends who are great readers are a wonderful support in my life. I love getting together for coffee or a glass of wine and talking about what we’ve been reading lately. This is why my to-read pile is so huge!

One of my earliest memories is going to the library weekly with my mother, an avid reader. I also remember her reading books to the whole family before we had television. The radio would be turned off and she would read aloud— stories such as Cheaper by the Dozen, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, etc. As I learned to read, she would read one book or story to me (often from a Bible story book), and I would read one story back to her. That love of reading was one of the most valuable gifts my mother gave me.

My sister and I grew up in the 50s and 60s on a very small Kansas farm. Even though we didn’t have much; i.e. all our clothes were hand-me-downs from cousins, we never went anywhere unless it was an absolute necessity, all our food was either raised or grown on the farm or made from scratch, my parents subscribed to the daily area newspaper which contained world, national, State, and area news. Although my mother’s education had stopped at the 8th grade because family obligations, she as well as my father read it from front to back every night. They were not avid readers, but they knew how important the printed word was and imparted that belief to their two daughters. My mother taught both my sister and me to read when we were 3 and when we started school we could check out as many books as we wanted from the library. During the summers, our wonderful Granny took us to town so we could go to the small city library. Our love for reading just grew and grew from these small seeds that were germinated early. We had several wonderful teachers who supported and encouraged us, as well as librarians who made sure our desire to learn continued to be engaged. I obtained a BS in Medical Record Administration (previously known as a Medical Record Librarian!) and worked in Hospital Health Information Management, Quality, and Risk Management for 41 years. My sister earned her MS in Library Science and worked in the elementary and secondary education setting for 40 years. I can’t imagine the number of students she impacted. We have been very fortunate.

My grandmother loved books and poetry. Although her formal education ended with high school, she shared her love of reading and language with her grandchildren. One of my most prized possessions is a tattered volume on elocution that she gave me. Later, I was inspired to “travel the world” through books by some gifted teachers. Their love of the written word encouraged me to read, to write and to teach. I carry that inspiration with me now as I lose myself in books. My life is rich because of them!

My parents always had books in our house. I was able to look at any and all of them, anytime. I looked at the large art books on the coffee table before I could read. My dad bought an encyclopedia set and joined the Book-of-the-Month Club. I read books given to me for every occasion by my godfather. Before there were vaccinations, my mother, for two weeks, kept me in a low-lit room and read to me daily so that I could save my eyes (yes that's a thing about measles - it can ruin your eyesight). I have never forgotten that special time nor the book - The Wind in the Willows. I had two sisters who were sick at the same time and Mum took each of us in turn to read to daily. My parents were my inspiration.

When I was in school, I took Working in the Library as a class. I learned so much about books working there. I had always loved to read, but the librarian taught me to enjoy many kinds of books. I still remember the first book she gave me to read. Death Be Not Proud, this was about a boy with a brain tumor and I cried my way though it. Also, I read so much I had outgrown the teen books in our local Minneapolis library, so my came with me to the library and helped me find authors in adult books she thought would be suitable. She had to sign a slip at the library that it was O.K. for me to take out adult books. That would not happen today.

Some of my earliest memories about books was walking to our neighborhood library with my mother and b rothers. And as a mother and grandmother I have shared my love of books and imagination with my children and then my grandchildren. I presently belong to 4 very different book groups. Three are sponsored by one of the library systems in my city.
Books have always been my friends. They soothe me when I am troubled. They have connected me with untold number of people I know who share my love of reading. I am presently a friend of 2 library systems in the Kansas City metro area.

Libraries have always been a place of joy for me. I am fortunate to come from a long line of book lovers and I hope I instilled that love in all of my five children. Books can transport the reader to another time, another place, another perspective. I can only imagine how the book women depicted in this book transformed the difficult lives of the people they served.

My father was my book reader model. He read to us every night even when we got old enough to read to ourselves. In addition he would read to us in the car before books on tape were even thought of. My mom would drive and dad would read on long trips. I never saw him without a book in his back pocket or by his chair and he would read for at least an hour after dinner at night. Never was I refused a book purchase or a trip to the library.

When my husband and I moved to our current city having come from a place where the library had the highest circulation of any library in the US, the library here was extremely small. I was heartbroken. I started frequented a used bookstore in town and five years ago bought it. Now I have as many books as I could possibly read!