According to a recent Gallup poll conducted between December 2 and 15, Americans visited the library more than they went to the movies, live sporting events, museums, concerts, amusement parks and casinos.  

 

Adults reported taking 10.5 trips to the library on average last year.  This is twice as many as attended movies.  “They went to live music or theatrical events and national or historic parks roughly four times last year and visited museums and casinos about 2.5 times.  Trips to amusement parks and zoos were the least common activities on the list,” according to a report on CNN by Harmeet Kaur.

 

Gallup compared these results to a survey in 2001 and found that library attendance remained higher than movie visits, but that movie trips were declining slightly.  

 

“Despite the proliferation of digital-based activities over the past two decades – including digital books, podcast, streaming entertainment services and advanced gaming – libraries have endured as a place Americans visit nearly monthly on average” Gallup reported.

 

And if you are interested in libraries, then you need to read “The Library Book” by Susan Orleans about the fire that destroyed the Los Angeles Public Library main branch in 1986.  The fire was so intense that a fireman present told the author that most flames are fire, gold or blue, but in this one the flames were transparent.  The entire Los Angeles fire department was called to fight the blaze, and the main branch remained closed for years.

 

2000 people showed up in the days after the fire to pack up the books that survived and get them into freezers; this prevents mold growth.  The books were then dried using modern technology over the next few years, but many were damaged beyond repair or the drying process so destroyed the glues and binding they had to be tossed.  The community also raised millions of dollars to replace the lost books.

 

The fire department expected arson and they identified a blond-haired man in his thirties who had acted suspiciously that morning just before the fire was noticed.  He also kept changing his story, but arson is one of the most difficult crimes to prove and he died of AIDS in the 1990’s.

Orleans begins her books with the fire and then moves back and forth from the investigation to how the library staff and patrons reacted, the history of the LA library, and the everyday services they provide now.

 

It is a fast-paced look at a catastrophe that also showed how much a building and its contents can mean to a community.  You don’t have to be a librarian to find this book fascinating.