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I'm still worried about the new bookcases and whether or not all of the books that Mifflin County Library owns will fit on the shelves or if we should have purchased more bookcases.
Of course, I'd love a library that was floor to ceiling bookcases with every inch of wall-space covered by a bookcase. But is that really what we want? I would love to have people come to the library and sit around a group of tables and chat about the book they are reading in the book club. With this new addition to the North Wing, that will happen.
I'd love to see crafters also meeting at those tables, while the sun shines in on them and they are talking about their projects. That will also happen because the windows in this area are enormous.
I never realized how much I missed natural light, because we never really had it. Especially in the children's library. It is so wonderful when the sun shines in!
I'm pretty certain we will have enough bookcases. Here's the thing: it would be so helpful if all of the books ever published were the same exact size. I'm thinking 10 inches high and only 300 pages. And all books would have to be 300 pages. If there's an author who likes to write 900 page books, then they would need to publish it in three volumes. I'm thinking of authors like Ken Follett and Cassandra Clare. It would just make my life so much easier if I could put 20 books on a shelf and all of them would be uniform.
But no. In our future Fiction section, some shelves will have 17 books and some will have 27 books. There are a few authors who write books that are only 197 pages long. I'm thinking about authors like Simon R. Green.
Miss Kelly agrees with me. All children's books should be 8 inches by 8 inches if they are picture books and 9 inches tall if they are chapter books.
If all of the books were the same size, it would make covering the books with the plastic book jackets that much easier. Did you know that libraries must purchase plastic book jackets and they come in a variety of sizes? We even purchase a roll of 14 inch high plastic jackets that can then be cut to the length we need because some children's picture books are just enormous.
I know what you are thinking: it would be boring if all books were the same size. But I argue how nice and neat the book shelves would look if the books were of similar size.
Oh well. It’s only a pipe dream. It's not possible to be obsessed with neatness at the library. After all, I want people to take books off the shelves and look at them. And remember, I will reach out when it's time to move everything. Thanks for your patience with us.
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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. You can call the library at (717) 242-2391. Kish Library's phone number is (717) 935-2880. Visit the library website at www.mifflincountylibrary.org.