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Some of my favorite books are books about reading and writing. Our current love your library display has several books related to the library. Check some of them out.

Letter to a future lover: marginalia, errata, secrets, inscriptions, and other ephemera found in libraries.

By Ander Monson.

Readers of physical books leave traces: marginalia, slips of paper, fingerprints, highlighting, inscriptions. All books have histories, and libraries are not just collections of books and databases but a medium of long-distance communication with other writers and readers.

As a librarian I would say writing in our books is not okay but as an English literature undergrad I loved writing in my books. Highlighting passages, asking why a character was doing something, and seeing what my fellow professors and students wrote. My copy of Homer’s The Odyssey has so many notes in the margins! That’s what Monson’s book is all about, the things we leave behind in books especially library books. I’ve found anything from writing, due date slips, pictures, and tickets to a show back in 2015, in library books. It always makes me pause and think, why did this person choose this item?

The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu: and their race to save the world’s most precious manuscripts

By Joshua Hammer.

Describes how a group of Timbuktu librarians enacted a daring plan to smuggle the city's great collection of rare Islamic manuscripts away from the threat of destruction at the hands of Al Qaeda militants to the safety of southern Mali.

Throughout the years the librarian has been seen as an adult that does nothing but “Shh” patrons and the library has been seen as something that is a dusty place full of books. Well, those stereotypes are wrong. Librarians are bad-ass, and the ones mentioned in Hammer’s book are more so than normal. These librarians risked their lives smuggling rare Islamic manuscripts away from Al Qaeda militants! Smuggling rare manuscripts out of a war zone, that certainly isn’t in my job description.

The library book

By Susan Orlean

The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library--and, if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

Remember when I said the stereotypes of librarians was wrong, I was right! Orlean’s book follows the mystery of the library while revealing how important libraries are to the communities they serve and how we fight for your rights to intellectual freedom. Did you know MacMillian is currently being boycotted by libraries across the United States because of their e-book embargo? Librarians have spoken with the CEO John Sargent and are trying to fight for thousands to have access to new books. We care about your right to read, view, listen, and hear whatever you want. If you want an answer to a question we want to give you that answer and we don’t want anyone telling you that you can’t have it!

The little free library book

By Margret Aldrich

 Little Free Libraries-freestanding front-yard book exchanges-now number twenty thousand in seventy countries. The Little Free Library Book tells the history of these charming libraries, gathers quirky and poignant firsthand stories from owners, provides a resource guide for how to best use your Little Free Library, and features color images of the most creative and inspired LFLs around.

This project has encouraged people to start other “little free” ideas, in my home town of Plano Illinois there is a little free cabinet. Bring any non-perishable food item and take whatever you need. There are little free libraries all over, I’ve seen some ranging from any book to specific topics. It’s a beautiful way to share literature and knowledge throughout a community. These books you could write in, communicate with fellow readers and see what other people are thinking when they read the stories.  Aldrich originally started this project as a memorial for his mother and it has only grown from there!

There are many other books about libraries, reading, and writing. More than we have on display! We can point you in the right direction.