Today I’d like to extend a very warm welcome Mary Ann Rivers, who recently published her terrific first book, The Story Guy (reviewed here). Her guest post topic is particularly near and dear to my heart, so let’s get right to it, shall we?
Why I Love Libraries and Librarians by Mary Ann Rivers
Libraries are the very best effort of society. The very best. Humans are very good at falling in love and at making libraries and precious little else. Everything else we do, is basically the business of filling libraries—with stories, with information about the human project. The very tiniest towns have some kind of library, and big cities have libraries that are glorious expressions of architecture and media.
I had a difficult childhood, and libraries saved me. I could be just exactly who I was in a library, or I could be someone else entirely. Physically, libraries are beautiful and safe; inside the mind they’re dangerous and illicit. As a child, the combination of that, of being safe with a free mind, was completely irresistible. Is still irresistible. I go every week, sometimes every day—even though I borrow most of my library books as digital media on my ereader (I love digital borrowing—it means the library is open 24 hours a day).
Librarians dedicate their work to the service of the very best of what it is we do as humans. It’s difficult schooling, and so librarians are obviously gorgeously smart; but also librarians have to negotiate the whole world and their community at the same time. Digital engagement is huge, but what if you serve poor rural or urban patrons? How do ereaders get in your community’s hands? If you’re serving in a world class library, you have the challenge of trying to represent your patrons, AND all other librarians.
Librarians help us ask questions, not just find the answer. They look at their community and try to fill the holes in it. They read to our kids, sometimes when no one else does. They figure out how and why we read so that the most perfect book is right in front of us when we explore the stacks. Carrie asks Brian if he has a librarian fetish. His answer is the same as mine, “who doesn’t?”
About Mary Ann RiversMary Ann Rivers was an English and music major and went on to earn her MFA in creative writing, publishing poetry in journals and leading creative-writing workshops for at-risk youth. While training for her day job as a nurse practitioner, she rediscovered romance on the bedside tables of her favorite patients. Now she writes smart and emotional contemporary romance, imagining stories featuring the heroes and heroines just ahead of her in the coffee line. Mary Ann Rivers lives in the Midwest with her handsome professor husband and their imaginative school-aged son.
To learn more about Mary Ann, visit her website or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~
Mary Ann is giving away a NetGalley review copy of The Story Guy to ten lucky winners! To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:
All you have to do to see how much I like libraries and librarians is look at the number of books I check out each. week. Great post.
Jo @ MIxed Book BAg recently posted..To Sin with a Viking (Forbidden Vikings Series #1) by Michelle Willingham
I work in one and I still bring stuff home. We are our own best customers! I bet the staff at your local library loves to see you!
Marlene Harris recently posted..Review: The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
Sounds like a great read!!
Thanks for the chance to win!
It is a great read. I hope you get the chance to enjoy it!
Marlene Harris recently posted..Review: The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
I love the idea that libraries are both safe and illicit.
Yes, we are. It’s a safe place to be but a dangerous place to explore new ideas.
Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Marlene Harris recently posted..Review: The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough