Or, A Branch Library of Good Books
The simple point, I will attempt to make, has been hinted at in both the title and sub-title of this post. I am suggesting that there should be, in a city of this size, one library built to acquire and keep good books. (The making of a simple point should not begin with a parenthetical remark, but for those of you who think the local university library might be the answer, let me know and I will provide another piece on that subject.)
A silly subject, you are thinking because of the word "good", but I will avoid that issue by supplying this definition of that word from the OED.
Good is the most general and most frequently used adjective of commendation in English, and one of the most common non-possessive adjectives in all periods from Old English to the present day. Almost all uses convey the sense of being of a high (or at least satisfactory) quality, useful for some purpose (specified, implied, or generally understood), and worthy of approval.
That's it.
Although it is likely that the London Public Libraries (LPL) buy the occasional good book and already contain a few, there are some problems that should be acknowledged. One of them is that budgets are limited and the librarians have to purchase books which patrons want and many of those are not good. Pick a very popular recent book and look it up in the LPL catalogue and you may see a message indicating that 50 copies are on order and 25 of them have already been requested. I will not attempt to pick on a title of a book that is not good, but I will suggest there are many of them and many copies of each of them have to be purchased. By the way, that such books may be on the NYT Best Sellers List" does not mean they are good. The list is compiled by the Times and the books are popular ones and those, particularly in the fiction category, are generally not considered good enough to show up in a review in the actual NYT. Literary snobbery is not the issue here. Just think of the number of copies of each book that the libraries have to buy from say, James Patterson, who produces many of them on a regular basis. Just think, as well, about the large number of books that now have to be purchased because of the identity of the author, not the quality of the book. Just think, as well, and again of the number of activities and things that librarians and libraries are supposed to do beyond buying and housing books and magazines.
A new library could be built to house the good books that should be bought and kept. Or, perhaps a more popular option would be to build a new building to do all of the things that "libraries" were not established to do and the project could be given a more popular name as well. Now that I think about it there is already an empty library in London that has been vacant for years.
Another problem to address is the one related to the space required for storage since good books should be kept. Storage spaces are far less attractive today than "maker-spaces". To a degree, the space problems have been mitigated somewhat by current LPL policies which, I am fairly certain, cause a great deal of "shrinkage". Those policies will have to be re-examined. I think two things could be considered: 1) There should be penalties if one does not promptly return the good books and 2) books should have to be signed out, especially good ones. (My concern about these issues was raised long ago in a very long post - "The Mystery of the Missing Books."
Careful Curation
The Acquisition of Older Books
Maybe this portion will be of more interest. I was prompted to think about all of this because of the recent "war" that was declared on us by our southern neighbour. Many lamented over the loss of a friend and I thought of the book, Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. The LPL does not appear to have a copy, not even one of the 40th anniversary edition from which the following is taken and, I think you will agree, might be interesting to read or re-read under current conditions:
Canadians have relatively few binding national myths, but one of the most pervasive and enduring is the conviction that the country is doomed. In 1965 George Grant passionately defended Canadian identity by asking fundamental questions about the meaning and future of Canada's political existence. In Lament for a Nation he argued that Canada - immense and underpopulated, defined in part by the border, history, and culture it shares with the United States, and torn by conflicting loyalties to Britain, Quebec, and America - had ceased to exist as a sovereign state. Lament for a Nation became the seminal work in Canadian political thought and Grant became known as the father of Canadian nationalism. This edition includes a major introduction by Andrew Potter that explores Grant's arguments in the context of changes in ethnic diversity, free trade, globalization, post-modernism, and 9/11. Potter discusses the shifting uses of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" and closes with a look at the current state of Canadian nationalism.
The Purchase of New Ones
The person employed to purchase new books has a difficult task, since there are many of them, produced from many different places and publishers and even by the authors themselves. Here are some suggestions from just one author, not named James Patterson. Although the author is a white male associated with the state of Texas, he was the Dean of Law at the University of Texas, which is in Austin and should not really be associated with the state of Texas. I knew nothing about the author, but stumbled upon these books, most of which are not even available at the local university. The librarian should have a good look at the reviews, but they certainly look like good books to purchase for our times. Pictures are provided since they are more appreciated these days than words.
