The greatly exaggerated demise of American libraries

Nathan Bierma, author of the weekly "On Language" column for the Chicago Tribune, looks at libraries then and now in America. Did you know, for instance, that visits to public libraries doubled in the 1990s? (To over 1.1 billion in 2001, if you want to get specific.) The number of items checked out also rose, to about 1.8 billion. And that audiobooks are really hot? That Seattle's new Central Library is designed with 'zigzagging' floors, so that you can walk the collection end to end without using stairs?

Actually, that library seems to call the book collection floors the book spiral rather than the book zigzags. Whatever. Beirma oozes affection for the Seattle library. I've just gone to the Seattle Times very good online overview, and I'm, uhh.... well, maybe it would grow on a person? At first blush, I find it very harsh and garish, at least in photographs. And the designations for different parts of the library seem a wee bit precious. Oh, well. If they're happy, all the more power to 'em. See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/library/ for a collection of articles, slide shows, a virtual tour, etc.

Among the books noted in the Bierma article: Sven Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, 1995, Random House, 231 pages, paperback ISBN: 0449910091, current list price $19.

Also noted: Place of Learning, Place of Dreams: A History of the Seattle Public Library, by John Douglas Marshall, 2004, University of Washington Press, 192 pages, hardcover ISBN: 0295983477, list price $35. A little sleuthing shows that this book has a chapter on the new library, but covers Seattle library history from 1868. And yes, Seattle had perhaps half a thousand people in 1868. Never underestimate the value that the frontier placed on civilizing factors and quests for knowledge. Not to mention entertainment. With a few dour exceptions, pioneers were a notably lively and forward-looking lot.

Not noted, but related: The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. It's still in print, published by Northwestern University Press, 1990, 375 pages, paperback ISBN 155553001X, list price $24; hardcover ISBN 0781254418, list price (gulp) $89.

My Own Story, by Andrew Carnegie, appears to be an abridged version, as does Andrew Carnegie's Own Story. Both are out of print.

Of course, while libraries in America are doing all right overall, some libraries are in trouble. See Libraries May Close in Steinbeck's Hometown, at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149900,00.html