Library

EOLibrary

#essay, #library, #books

Library: ‘A place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (such as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale.’ (Meriam).

I listened to a podcast about Street Libraries but did not finish it, concluding early on that they did not understand the beauty of the street library. They focused merely on the bad quality of the books they contain (Eeuw).

To understand my story let me first explain how I define a Street Library: A collection of books, left in an outside bookcase by individuals, there to be taken for free by other individuals. Street libraries take different forms: Some are open, some have doors, others are chests or little houses.

I am determined to take the Street Library seriously. Therefore, I find the one closest to my home (see picture), go there and take out every book it contains. I start by making an inventory of its collection.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EfGo2x-eQkxSGRKOHHEUXiRZ5UXmy_Rj4yFqRzEasTU/ edit#gid=0

The library consists of: 29 discarded books. 17 Dutch, 6 English, 3 German, 2 French, and 1 South-African book.

The oldest book is from 1958, the youngest from 2017. With 3 books, most are from 1991.

How can I give this library importance and make people see the beauty I see? I could, for example, order the books: The author’s names in alphabetical order might be the most logical, but I am a visual person. My iPhone app library used to be organized by color. I conduct different experiments using this method. (see pictures)

*Idea borrowed from Anouk Kruithof (bottom picture).

But this is not what attracts me to these libraries. A personal library tells you a lot about its owner. But the Street Library is A Library of Discarded Books. Each book was left there for a different reason, left by a different person.

Examining the books closely, what can I find out about the people who left them?

- 5 books have a name written in them, 2 of them I can read:

Bonnie and Bas. Bas also scribbled his phone number on the cover: 0618909937. I tried calling him, planning to ask why he discarded this book. Unfortunately he did not answer his phone. - 4 bear signs of a former life in another library. - 2 are full of sticky notes and yellow markers, 1 of them has some small blood splatters on the back. - 1 contains a message on the first page: Willeke, hope you like this. - Some pointers for life. x Sep. 97 - 1 still has a receipt in it.

No clues on why these books were banned from their bookshelves or why they have become part of the collection of abandoned books, waiting for a new owner to adopt them. In old library books there is a form attached to the first page of every book. When a book leaves the library the date is stamped onto the form in the book, leaving a trace of its usage. What if you were forced to write a little note in every book you discarded?

What notes could these books contain?

Looking back I can see I was in the middle of a midlife crisis. I dreamt of becoming a writer and moved to Scotland planning to work on my book there. My wife was supportive and as a parting gift she gave me ‘Brieven Schrijven, een Kennis een Kunst’. I sat at a small desk in my room for days, weeks, staring out of the window, a blank page before me. I had to declare defeat and go back home, humiliated. I didn’t even write my wife one letter. It is too painful to look at this book now, an unwelcome reminder of how I once dreamt too big.

I work as a receptionist at the museum ‘Ons Lieve Heer op Solder’. My shifts are long and some days boring. Especially outside of the tourist season in dreary January. So I ordered ‘The Three of Us’ by Julia Blackburn to read during my shift. I devoured it in a week. The book traveled around the office for years. One day when cleaning my desk I decided it might be nice for somebody else to read it and enjoy it like I did.

As a new Mom living in a foreign country I felt insecure. My baby cried for weeks on end. At least that is what it felt like. My mom came from France to help me and brought me this book: ‘Votre Bébé de Jour A 1 An’. I used it like an encyclopedia. Paging through it with every problem I encountered. Teething, no poop, too much poop, cutting nails for the first time. Sometimes finding an answer, a lot of times not. But it is better to try something than do nothing. Now my baby is two and we grew out of this book together.

Now that public libraries are closed due to the Coronavirus I frequently scan these Street Libraries during my city walks. Two weeks ago I took ‘Het Bernini Mystery’ with me. I observed that almost every street library contained a copy of this book. Bored and home alone I read it in two evenings. I then brought it back to the same library.

I got this book from Jack with a promise of life lessons. What I learned is that Jack is not such a nice guy.

I wish I found one of these notes in the books I took home. Every time you take a book out of a Street Library there could be a surprise in the book you take. That possibility is what makes me return to them.

Now that I got to know this library collection more intimately, it feels like it’s my library. I name it: The Library of Discarded Books, Waiting for Adoption. I search my own bookcase to select a book I can part with and choose one from Kluun, ‘God is Gek’. A book I took from a street library myself and that has the name of its previous owner in it: Max Jasper Tocks.

I attach a note to the first page:

Five years ago I was the one taking this book from a Street Library. Guilty of the notes in the margin. Found some solace on page 18. Hope you get what you are looking for.

Meriam Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/library https://eeuwvandeamateur.nl/?p=848 De eeuw van de Amateur (podcast): Tacx, J.P.M.. Brieven Schrijven, een Kennis een Kunst. Blackburn, J. The Three of Us. Bacus, A. Votre Bébé de Jour A 1 An. I put this book plus the whole inventory of the library in two bags and brought them back to The Library of Discarded Books, Waiting for Adoption. I put the books back on the shelves and leave a notepad. I attach the following instruction:

Please leave a message for a future reader. Tell them a little bit about your history with this book, and the reason you leave it here for them to find.

Brown, Dan. Het Bernini Mysterie. Kluun. God is Gek