One of my passions is travelling. My bug to travel has taken me to many places and one of the places that I visited was USA. USA is a treasure cove for book lovers. The community (government) libraries are so well maintained that it is not right that should be compared with our own poorly run government libraries in India. Membership in the library is free and members can borrow as many books as they like. It is very common to see book lovers come and load a suitcase full of books and take them away. If the books are returned within time there is no late fee. But there is a heavy penalty of one dollar per week for late returning of books. The issual and returning are all automatic. The member himself has to swipe the books for the issual and drop the returned books in a huge chute that carries the books automatically to the respective rooms.
The community library is a place for old books. Members drop their unwanted books, novels, journals. Other members can take any book that they fancy and pay whatever money that they feel the book is worth. The entire system works on a very transparent way and it so astonishing to note that no one tries to cheat and I am sure that this way the library gets more money in its cash box than if it were to mark the price and sell the same with lots of supervision.
Other libraries make it even more interesting by packing more than 20 popular paper backs, popular books and novels and sell them at a throw away price of 10 dollars. It is akin to playing the Russian roulette. You never know. One might draw duds all the time or end up with 20 classics at a throw away price of 10 dollars! The risk and the fun of finding a rare book is the excitement in such a transaction.
Book sellers like Barnes and Noble have taken marketing of books to the next level. Their stores are libraries in their own right. A reader can happily browse books and settle down on comfortable chairs and read at his or her own convenience. One can read the entire book or read a part and buy the book. Shoppers would always flock to a shop that appears to be crowded. The sight of people sitting and reading stimulate others to come in and they would either sit down and read or buy the book and take it away. Indian book sellers are also catching up. Crosswords in India also encourage visitors to come in and sample their books before buying.
All in all libraries is a great place to relax and gain knowledge at the same time. Like the saying goes “there is no greater friend than a book” and no better place to find that great friend than in a humble library.
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