Books...Glorious Books!

If you ever happen to come to Iowa, be sure to check out the Ames Public Library.

Of all the big-city libraries I have been in, it is one of the best. Granted, it doesn't have a large Wicca/Pagan section like the Iowa City library does, but that simply indicates the demographic of Ames. It's a slightly smaller college town, so it is not quite as diverse. And perhaps the library's budget is a tad smaller. Besides, they essentially just finished building a brand new library--which is WAY bigger than the original, so whatever bills they have to pay come before expanding the collection.

Besides, if I want Pagan-ish stuff, I can always save up and go to the bookstore, or order from OneSpirit. Or better yet, simply do a proper search on the web for blogs, which are often more up-to-date than actual books. It just depends on what I need.

In any case, I love the Ames library. Their collection's expanded considerably, for both fiction and non-fiction. Mom wasn't too happy that they'd put all the fiction together instead of separating by genre, the way they used to. But for some reason, that doesn't concern me, since I haven't read fiction in a good while, unless it's a romance book from Wal-Mart. (Yeah, I know...really educational, right? More like under [or on!] the table sex ed! ;-) To make myself feel less "ashamed" about it, I just call them "books for stirring the second and fourth chakras," because that's about what those books target. Mom has judgements galore about them, but she doesn't have to read 'em if she doesn't want to.)

The health and fitness section is larger than I remember it, as is the spirituality section. The productivity-time-management/career section is ginormous! And they've expanded the computer programming section. As for foreign language???? Let's put it this way: there are scads of materials for learning French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, even Croatian, Czech, Hebrew, Russian, even some of the Scandinavian languages. But as before, only one small entry for learning the one Celtic language on file: Irish. *sighs* They say it's a dying language, as is Welsh and there are people on the west coast of Ireland and in Wales trying to keep their respective languages preserved. I know in Scotland that their form of Gaelic is still alive because I watched a documentary on Irish dancing and the banner they had in the auditorium for the dancing championship was in both English and Gaelic. And I am as drawn to Gaelic and Welsh as I am to French, so...yeah. And yes, I would love to learn Welsh!

Their new computer-based search system is not quite as good as the old one, actually. There are some bugs to work out. They have monitors hung on posts, which is good, except I liked the old system where the computers were in study-desk-like tables, with plenty of writing surface. I had with me a notebook half again the depth of the new tiny "desks." And they only have the call numbers on the sides of the shelves, with no verbal labels denoting which section is which. Marshalltown's library scores a little higher there, but maybe the call-number situation at Ames is temporary. *shrugs* I may make a mention of the computer issues to the clerks at the info desk next time I'm there. But all in all, I was still able to get the call-number sections written down for the topics I wanted, including jewelry-making and beading, which I didn't get to, but it won't be long.

I had to get a new card, since they put in a completely new card system, which is fine. It allowed me to start fresh since I hadn't checked out books from the Ames library for a long time. As for the computer/wi-fi situation? It's incredible! There are at least four good tables with awesome-looking lamps, and there are USB and electrical plug-in stations directly on the tables, making it WAY more convenient to plug in laptops. This will make getting up to go to Ames with Pop a lot more convenient and enjoyable, since I'll be able to take my laptop with me.

Plus, on some of the tables, there are e-reader stations, making it easier to check out e-books and read them there at the library. I may have to ask some questions about how to access the e-books and whatnot, especially if I can download them to my computer, since I don't have a tablet.

And oh...the new reading chairs upstairs are awesome!!! I didn't sit in any of them, but they look very comfy! Far more comfy than the chairs at my home town library. Sorry, Big M, but your chair cushions need upgrading. :P

Funny thing about the spirituality section at the Ames library is that I really didn't see any books on Tarot. I may have to look a bit harder, and use the search function, but then again, I wasn't specifically looking for books on Tarot this time around. Since I've got a new bookmark that gives me the APL URL, I can do a search later.

Anyway, it's time to sign off and get to work on eBay stuff, since I spent the afternoon and evening in Ames with my parents.

Pax Felinum,
Kat ^.^