follow-up to the last post: if you are looking for a specific book and are in the united states, check worldcat. It has access to the catalogues of every public, university, and special library that belongs to OCLC (which is just about everyone), and will tell you where you can find the book (this includes digitally, such as through hathitrust and internet archive). And even if the thing you’re looking for is far away, being a member of OCLC means they probably participate in inter-library loans, so you can request the book through your local library.
please use worldcat. it’s wonderful. tell everyone you know
and would it be too mean if I said that when it comes to discovering new books to read it seems like of people would rather just act willfully helpless and blame tiktok for “ruining literature” instead of putting in a very small amount of effort to find the damn books?
whenever this conversation comes up a lot of people start saying something akin to “just read older books” and while I do agree that humanity has an absolutely staggering backlog of books big enough to keep anyone entertained, it often seems to come with an unspoken implication (or, sometimes, ca very clear statement) that this is necessary because all books published now are Awful and Bad. to which I would like to say, respectfully, Shut The Fuck Up. the books that annoy you are not the sum total of everything being published.
personally I think best results will always come from just wandering around a library or indie bookstore and picking stuff up, but variety is the spice of life so here are some other places where I like to learn about cool new books coming out
BookBrowse is a great resource that includes readalikes, new releases, and the option to filter fiction and nonfiction by genre, subgenres, time period, setting, page count, debut books, and small presses.
BookPage publishes small monthly magazines that can be found in many libraries and bookstores, but all of their lists, author interviews, and reviews can also be found on their website. each month spotlights new releases across a variety of genres and age groups.
and for my podcast heads check out The Stacks, where host Traci Thomas is dropping weekly interviews with authors about their new books and the podcasts’ monthly book club reads
The magazine comes out every other month and covers new releases in the two month period the magazine covers. There are interviews with authors and featured books none of which the publishers themselves have any control or say in; they can’t buy a featured book slot in the magazine. It’s an excellent resource and you can support your local indie at the same time if you have the cash to spare for a book.
ooh, and they post whole issues online! don’t mind if I do 👀
So if you’ve ever seen my monthly “what I’ve read posts” and wondered “how the heck does unforth/duckprintspress read so dang much every month,” the answer is: the library. Anyway, I was poking through my Libby tags this morning and it go me thinking and wondering:
just saw a “Holiday” list of like 75 gay romance novels, and there was literally not a single Hanukkah one, not one, like bitch say its a Christmas list
Please report the moment if you find a cheesy gay Hannukah romance novel
the Queer Books Database I run has a Tropes column where you can filter for the “holiday” tag, and you can also search for any individual holiday in the Additional Notes column (not by tags, so you may want to try different spelling variations)
it currently has 11 queer hanukkah romances (+2 straight romances with queer SCs, +1 FF romance to be added)
(MM) The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish, +autistic rep
(MM) Mistletoe and Mishigas by M. A. Wardell, +fat rep
(MM) His for Hanukkah by Reese Morrison, +trans rep
(MM) To Touch the Light by E. M. Lindsey, +trans rep, +disabled rep, +Latino rep
(all FF) Do You Feel What I Feel: A Holiday Anthology ed. by Jae, +trans rep in one story, +older FF couple in one story
(FF, MM) Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology ed. by J. P. Walker, +kwanzaa, +black rep, +pagan rep
(FF) Eight Kinky Nights by Xan West, +ace rep, +autistic rep, +fat rep, +disabled rep
(MM) Hearts Alight by Elliott Cooper, +bi rep
(MM) Eight Dates by E. M. Lindsey
(MM) Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle by Penelope Peters
(FFF) Eitan’s Chord by Shira Glassman, +butch rep
These two haven’t been added to the database (yet!), but I still highly recommend them!
(FF) Alice Rue Evades the Truth by Emily Zipps, +bi rep, +butch rep, +disabled rep
For the Rest of Us ed. by Dahlia Adler (all non-christmas holidays!)
I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it’s necessary to make sure there’s room in the library for new materials.
I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I’ve seen folks pass around those beautiful “queer your library” flyers. Keep doing that. That’s great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.
My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don’t have as many materials as I’d like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I’ve gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn’t a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn’t another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it’s been since the last time the item was checked out.
Three years.
No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.
I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn’t a horde. This isn’t a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won’t* be there anymore.
This isn’t a vague post, there’s no one person I’m hinting at or calling out. I’m not even talking directly to anyone who’s directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.
Billy stifled what must have been his fifth yawn behind his hand, looking for the cup that was his. He didn’t find the coffee he wanted before the next customer made eye contact and stepped up to the register. “Welcome to Franklin’s Coffee,” he said.
He dutifully keyed in the order, grateful that it was a simple one, handing over a wrapped muffin before the customer went to wait for their cup at the other end of the bustling counter. The minutes before eight were counting down, the first rush of 8 AM caffeine dosage almost over for the semester. Fifteen minutes to go.
Billy found the cup marked with a yellow stripe and took a sip before looking up. At least it’d been left on the machine, so the liquid was still hot.
The next customer stepped up. He was dressed like a parody of the legacy Yale student: a fawn suede coat was draped over his shoulders, a lightweight turtleneck sweater immaculately arranged over checked pants and blood-red oxfords. His hair, sandy, was swept with a perfect look of nonchalance off his forehead, trimmed shorter in the back than the front. To complete the look there was a Rolex at his wrist and the sunglasses on his head probably cost more than the coffee machine Billy’s colleagues were manning. The satchel over his shoulder was evidently more for the look than a functional carrying case for a laptop. Above it all his face was serious, only a slow smile lighting up his features, blue eyes clearly prone to a serious look that clashed with the tone of his voice. “Medium-size mocha, one squirt of hazelnut, two of vanilla, an extra shot of espresso, whipped cream, chocolate drizzle on top … over ice. Oh, and a cheese danish. Name’s Dick.”
Billy wrapped his mind around the order, making sure he’d arranged everything for the ticket before charging. “Fifteen seventy-three, please, sir.”
The stranger got out his card and selected his tip option, waiting for the machine to ring out its approval. “Oh, and your number, if you please,” he said, with a wink.
Billy was already wrapped up in putting out the second receipt and packaging the cheese danish. He pretended not to hear, handing over the bag. “Your food, sir. You can wait for your coffee at the end of the bar.”
He looked up for a second waiting for the next person to step up, catching the jarringly bright eyes yet again before settling on the new customer.
After the morning rush had settled down a little, the brief pause of 8:30, one of his coworkers turned to Billy. “Did that guy seriously flirt with you?”
Billy looked at Allen, taking a sip out of his third coffee of the day. “The one with the Rolex? Yeah he did. Way to pick the worst time for it!”
as a librarian, i can’t encourage you enough to check out stuff you don’t think you’ll get around to reading
like other institutions, at the end of the day we have to use numbers to justify our existence and inform our financial decisions
check out that novel by that author you like even if you know there’s no time to finish it. check out a movie you like even if you can’t watch it. check out a sewing machine even if you don’t have time for a project. we don’t check if you finish anything, and it all adds up.
support your local library by checking out things you don’t need
QOTD: What’s your fave book with ace spectrum rep?
For this year’s ace week I’ve put together a list with books from all kinds of genres for you to choose a new read from!
Please note that with some of the series, it’s not made apparent that the character is asexual until a later book but I have only included the first books.
Oh hey, all you Library-Loving Libby users out there. A piece of advice for you. Go to your search engine of choice and type in “[your local library] reciprocal agreements”.
Might pull up nothing, but chances are there are somewhere between two and seven other Library systems in your state that you can get a card at perfectly legitimately simply by applying for one with your current address and proof of having an active card at your local library. You can then log into Libby with these and use them even if you never manage to go to a physical building of that library. (Though you should take advantage of the physical library too if you can) Some of them might have significantly larger or at least different ebook/audiobook collections for you.
Is it bad that I feel slightly bad that I keep coming to the library to use its quietness and its desk space and its pleasant atmosphere for writing but I never check out books?
Why would you feel bad? You’re using the library for one of its intended purposes. The desks, WiFi, space etc are LITERALLY there for you to do exactly what you’re doing AND each time you go in you add to the foot traffic numbers that prove hey people are coming in to use our stuff mr. government so keep funding us.
Confirmed by another public librarian. One of the stats we track is “WiFi usages”
That is, we track number of sessions/devices using it over time.
The library is not about snooping on what you’re doing with that WiFi. Libraries respect privacy.
We literally have a door counter at my library. Congratulations, you just added to our statistics.
I think it’s a bit sad that with more and more public spaces vanishing, people are feeling bad about not “buying” stuff to “earn” their time at a library.
A library is like a park, you’re allowed to just. Exist in it.
I check out books every 4 weeks, when the learning period from my current books is up, but I go much more frequently with my kid to just sit there and read to them, and that’s okay. In my school days, we’d go and do our research for presentations there, just reading, never checking out.
A library is a space to just exist.
So a year or so ago, we added some new desklets at our library, in areas where we noticed that people gravitated to but didn’t have the right furnishing to use them in the way they wanted to.
The first few weeks of having the new furniture were absolutely filled with excited librarians whispering to each other, “Look! Someone’s using the desklet in the back corner!” and “casually” walking by to enjoy the sight like wildlife researchers who had successfully baited a particularly elusive rare bird. Nobody cared if those people checked anything out or not. There was a need! We saw the need! We filled the need! Hooray!
WE PUT THE THING THERE TO BE USED. USE THE THING.
And you literally pay for the thing! You pay taxes! I’m sure they would want you there regardless and I understand you feel like you have to pay for rent but you very much did already pay for it, that was a thing that happened!
