Do you realize public libraries are threatened with severe cuts? At least in California, which has an enormous budget deficit, library funding might be greatly cut--and with that comes a double whammy since federal matching funds would be lost as well. Think of everything you can get at a public library: free books, loads of newspapers and magazines to peruse, free loans of DVDs, ebook downloads, free computer time, computer tutoring, storytimes for tots, afterschool programs for school-age kids, author events, early-morning yoga classes and the list goes on. Libraries typically open early (sometimes at the crack of dawn for those yoga classes) and close as late as any big mall store (sometimes at 11 p.m. if it's during finals week, providing a safe quiet place for students to cram). Workhorses, public libraries are that!
Workers at our library passed around the recent story of an English community, facing a shutdown of their local library, enlisted their patrons to check out every single item in their library to show the budget slashers they'd better not mess with the library.
So I hope you will visit your local library this week and partake of what it has to offer. If you need a specific mission, look for this book, "At Home in Turkey" by Solvi Dos Santos. It is full of gorgeous pictures of city homes as well as retreats and palaces on the mythic waters that surround Turkey. Very interesting is to view and read about the study and library of Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize winning author, with their view onto the Borphorus.
The rich details of Ottoman empire architecture and furnishings are on full display in this beautiful book.
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