Travel: Best Libraries

Last weekend, I saw a travel section story about the best libraries to visit on the road. Several in the story were quality, but the two glaring omissions were Seattle and Nashville. And of the two, there is little comparison to Nashville's downtown public library. Just to reconfirm, I strolled over again this morning. A great building, a nice collection, a very solid cafe.

Considering the armageddon snow storm had shuttered most of downtown (I kid -- two inches, tops and mostly melted by the time I walked over), the library was quiet and a great place to read. I've found some great pieces of research for my professional work there on previous trips.

One aside, it bothers me how our public libraries have changed. I grew up in the library as a child, wandering the stacks. My mother-in-law was a librarian, and she also lamented the shift from public place to loitering place. I put a lot of that on the new wave of book stores that are quasi-libraries with reading areas. Combine that with high-speed internet and a growing scanning of research works and fewer people go to the public library.

Let me rephrase that -- those with means don't go to the public library as much, and only when something can't be acquired on-line or browsed at Barnes and Noble. Call it the privatization and tonying of the library.

That's a shame. We lose yet another place of public interaction when we stay behind our screens and don't interact. Now that's the pot calling the kettle black as I type this blog from the confines of the Sommet Center media room.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time joining the locals at the library. You should too.