Another Library Visitor

I've just finished reading and admiring a brand-new (2014) book, The Public Library: A Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson. Dawson has traveled across the country photographing libraries, large and small, most active but some closed. To my surprise and pleasure, I spotted about five that I also have visited and documented here.

Dawson's approach relates to libraries per se and their role in society. His chapter titles give you a glimpse:

• The American Public Library
• Economics
• Civic Memory and Identity
• Urban and Rural Libraries
• Art and Architecture
• Evolving Libraries
• Literature and Learning

My approach is perhaps quirkier; I'm always searching for a sign, program, or feature that I've never found before, and then I like to share what I have found: a poem reminding patrons to leave books for the staff to reshelve, in Goffstown, NH; a 10,000-year-old bison skeleton in Becker, MN; a river boat in Lacrosse, WI.

Dawson's book includes essays from the likes of Bill Moyers, Barbara Kingsolver, and Ann Patchett. My blog, except for the comments, is just me.

I do recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the endless variety of libraries in the United States. For a review of the book, go here: http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_25654140/robert-dawsons-public-library-pictures-tell-1-000