This Is What a Librarian Looks Like A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information by Kyle Cassidy

This Is What a Librarian Looks Like A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information by Kyle Cassidy will be published by Hachette Books on May 16th.

This book is plenty of faces and words of librarians from the East to the West Coast of the USA. A real big thanks and a tribute to all the Librarians and their special work in the USA and what it means to them to be librarians.

The project by Kyle Cassidy at first was a series of pictures put together of various librarians from Massachusetts to California, for remarking their immense and important work.

Later the idea of writing a book about this topic.

I would have been lost without the library of  my city, Gubbio. I am italian.
I still remember the first time I visited that.
It was a tiny, tiny little library at that time.
Situated in a very central street I asked for some information about Marie Antoinette and French Revolution.
To me that library meant the complete discovery of culture.

Every book I bought in my life has meant sacrifice because books were not considered so much important in our house, and money necessary for a living.
I have always felt a great attraction for them but so: what to do?
When I started high school I sorted out all my problems and that library and my librarians Ottavio, Ivana, Gioia, Massimo Nicoletta my best allies.

I read and researched, being avidly curious of all the possible knowledge of this world.

Libraries are places of discoveries I learned with the time.
I still remember when with my schoolmates we rushed at the library for trying to discover the italian translation of the latest chapter read at school of The Dubliners written by James Joyce...We were 14, personally at my first year of english and well yes our english teacher introduced to us all the book of The Dubliners. Yes edited for school but trust me, for people with a very good english not for beginners! A language is like to climb a mountain and it is a never-ending work.
I will always have some existential problems I'm afraid with James Joyce and it's not his direct fault. Sorry mate...

Later, once discovered the translation the following desperation: "Bloody hell, this is funny:  how can we put all of it in english now?" discovering sadly that well, we didn't sort out anything. Frustration.

But libraries could also become plenty of teenagers in the afternoon when some of our teachers told us certain books weren't yet for us because too dirty or prohibit.

Be sure that in the afternoon librarians surrounded by teenagers plenty of acne in search for that so-called prohibited book all curious to discover  which parts of that certain book dirty or why it was a book prohibited for us. You go for transgression there is nothing to do in particular in the teenage age.
I remember the astronomic phase. I I studied per hours stars and planets, for a school research and for personal pleasure.
I have always cultivated the secret ambition to going to the Moon soon or late :-) When I was little I didn't want to become an attorney, or a dancer but an astronaut. Sagittarius. It's just this...
Since there I lost the count of books I read thanks to this library during the years. Psychology with Milton Erikson, Jung and Freud  philosophy and history, italian literature, policy, sociology, self-help, romances, historical fiction and non fiction. All Ian Fleming with his 007.

Wilbur Smith once said  in an interview that he wasn't born rich and he started to appreciate books thanks to libraries where he read a lot of great literature suggesting this modality for everyone.

It's what I would want to suggest to everyone.

A library as also remarked very well in this book is not just a library. There are internet connections and possibility to surf the web thanks to free wi-fi.

Libraries organizes encounters with book authors and it is stimulating.

They're compassionate places and they are places where you can interact with people in love for culture as you are, most of the American librarians I see are also best-selling authors, and they write and publish books. We speak of men and women of great culture and that can give you suggestion, help, advice with great competence.

Did you know that the first library in the USA, Philadelphia, lending books wanted by President Benjamin Franklin?

Also in the USA the biggest problems met by libraries and librarians are money. Cuts are everywhere. Culture one of the main voice cut out by main voices because considered unnecessary, although a country without culture, with ignorant people can't produce anything good at long.

A library will also lent to you various magazines and newsmagazines for personal research or just because you want to read your favorite newsmagazine or magazine, without to speak of DVDS!
A library is human.

Beautiful the portrait of the library of Shutesbury in Massachusetts and the founder Mary Clarke. I read this story in the Boston Globe time ago.
Recently a lot of polemics, the library offers yoga classes, live animal programs, science demonstrations, picnics, book clubs, nature walks lead by botanists.

Memories mixed with the various experiences of the excellent contributors of this book: Neil Gaiman, (the first contributor) George R.R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, Cory Doctorow (you'll love what she will write), Paula Poundstone, Amanda Palmer, Peter Sagal, Jeff VanderMeer, John Scalzi, Sara Farizan, Amy Dickinson and many others.

I appreciated the historical weight given to President Benjamin Franklin and his idea of a library for everyone but you will also discover many other of personal stories of libraries, starting from the remote past and at the same time the American story of Libraries like also of the Presidential ones.

A story I loved particularly the one of Bretagne Byrd and the Lewis&Clark Bookmobile. Bretagne explains that sometimes libraries are shelters, places the people use for being connected to the world. The project of buying a bookmobile and serving the littlest communities where in different cases no one could stop by for offering the opportunity of knowledge immensely important.
With her truck she goes here and there with her books, eBooks, internet connections and all the indispensable for giving dignity to the less lucky in term of distance with big centers.

Brava, Bretagne!



Many thanks NetGalley and Hachette for this book!


Anna Maria Polidori