British Library - Turning the Pages

I have to say that I'm a huge fan of the British Library.

Why you say?

Check out their Turning the Pages section.

You can digitally "turn the pages" of a few original works and books.

For instance, do you want to look at Jane Austin's The History of England, written in her own handwriting and even illustrated with cute pictures of kings and queens?

Or maybe the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland written and illustrated by Lewis Carroll himself?

Or maybe Mozart's musical diary, or Leonardo da Vinci's sketches?

Most have audio commentary that you can turn on or off, you can zoom in or out, and other fun features.

My favorite....the Lindisfarne Gospels:




Check it out!

NYC Libraries Revamped

Apparently someone read about my library rant and decided to do a face-lift on NYC's libraries. Ok...well I'd to think someone read my blog :) Read the article about the plans here.

Anyway, a massive plan to renovate the "Lion Library" provided in part by an insanely generous donation by a prominent New Yorker is underway. When they are done, the "Lion Library" will have book borrowing services....yay!!! And other NYC libraries may get a face-life too. Maybe our poor little one floor/room library that (I swear) has only eight "G" fiction books. Seriously.

Oh...and if you want a flashback to my little tour of the library while seeing the Kerouac's On the Road you can go here.

P.S. Just learned that the two lions' names are Patience and Fortitude. Not sure which one I took a picture of above :)

Click to Love Your Library!

Library Lovers Month

I have to say that I love love libraries, bookstores, reading books, the smell of books....

So I'm excited to learn that February is Library Lovers' Month !!

And in honor of Library Lovers' Month my husband and I are going to the "Lion Library" to do some studying. I coerced him by saying we can do fast food dinner (I don't normally do fast food) and we both can study. I need to write a paper on M.E.T.S. (no...not those Mets...Metadata Encoding Transmission Standards) and he can study for the F.E. (Engineering test).

I'm excited because we'll probably be studying in the famous Reading Room!

Safe and Sound and On the Road

My husband did make it home safe and sound yesterday. He was sitting at the airport in Chicago for hours and hours and was on standby for two flights and finally got on a flight. Yay!! If you prayed for him, thank you!

So I am going to try and be better uploading all my fun photos when I take them. Last weekend I treated my husband to a surprise outing. So Saturday I dragged him on the A train and wouldn't tell him what stop we were getting out at. At 42nd street we got out and started walking East. When we neared 42nd and 5th he realized where I was taking him.

Kerouac at the Library!!

The NYPL "Lion" library (Humanities and Social Sciences Libray) is having a exhibition at the library called Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road which is showcasing the actual long long scroll that he typed out On the Road with. I read On the Road and a bit of Dharma Bums and just didn't get them. But my husband likes them and it was a great exhibition! I had never been in this library before and (I know I complained about this library in this blog) and fell in love with it. Ok...so you can't check out books unless you have a research Access card...but you can study, check out the art displays in the hallways, and basically feel like you are unchaperoned in a museum :) Yay!

We went in a side entrance so had a bit of time trying to find out where the exhibition was. Here's a floor (third floor?) trying to find where the exhibition was at:
The ceiling:
I don't know what the protocol for taking pictures are in the library so I was taking them fast and without flash...this one is kind of creepy
My husband looking at one of the hallways of artwork:
It's kind of Gothic sometimes:
This is the main entrance:
Here's one of the famous lions guarding the front entrance:
And the main entrance...ta da!

Beautiful Places to Read

Speaking of being thankful...

I am thankful I've been to some pretty cool libraries in my day. I love checking out movies and CDs as well as books. The main library on Denali street in Anchorage is wonderful with a beautiful fountain outside that freezes in the winter to simulate the Aurora Borealis. I found the picture of the fountain at this site.











AND of course the cool Denver Public Libary. That's sort of what I was expecting the New York City one to be like...only better. But of course it wasn't.

And Colorado State's Morgan Libray which looks like an open book....was my home away from home sometimes which of course had a coffee stand :)

Library Rant

I have to post this. One of the first things I learned upon moving to New York City has to do with that beautiful New York Public Library with the famous lions and architecture. I was so excited to see it...to go study and do graduate school stuff. You know...experience the New York Public Library. But upon asking our New York friend where it was...he told me it is a "research" library...you can't check anything out there. Insert picture of me being sad...I think I pouted.

Then he told me the "real" library is right across the street. Oh!! Ok!! So I trotted my little self with my computer to the Mid-Manhattan Public Library to do some important graduate homework (insert me being slightly sarcastic). Anyway...I was so not impressed with the library. The level where it's ok to whip out your laptop and do work had a total of five outlets (not really being sarcastic)...with people on standby watching people leave like hawks swooping down to snatch the spots. So fortunately I finished my test before my computer's battery died. I don't think the library has been renovated or updated since maybe the sixties or seventies. Hmmm...

Oh and this was after I went to our local branch. At our branch I was looking for a book for my husband...a Neil Gaiman book called Neverwhere...and I swear the library had eight titles in the "G" section. Seriously....I think I have a better selection at home.

I was so disappointed that I haven't yet taken a photo of the famous library. The photo above is from this website.

Ok...enough of my rant...it's out and now I can spend the rest of the weekend being Thankful :)