the public lending library
I've spent a good portion of the past four days sitting in front of a microfilm reader at my local public library. I love the library; I really do, but it's been a while since I ILL-ed microfilm and spent so much time with my back to the other patrons.

When exactly did "library voices" become a thing of the past? I can't believe the LOUD talking that constantly surrounded me. And when did it become standard practice to sit down at a computer or pull up a chair at a table in the library, whip out your cell phone, and conduct business (or pleasure) while there? I kept longing for somebody, anybody in authority to come shush those people or bring over the sign that says "No Cell Phones" and shove it in a few faces.

I know that libraries are all about information, and information comes in more forms than the printed page these days, like the reels of microfilm I was looking at. But I really miss the days when people spoke softly in the library, and the main sound you heard was the turning of pages in a book.

A public lending library was started in De Smet in early 1884. The library committee consisted of V.S.L. Owen, Miriam Barrows, William H.H. Phillips, and John H. Carroll. Miss Barrows got to pick the 100 titles purchased to start the library. The library in De Smet wasn't free, though. You had to pay one dollar to be allowed the privilege of borrowing books.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:58 AM