This is the inside of the library at the University of Bristol. It's evil. It is the throne of Satan. I thought Manchester was bad, but this place makes the John Rylands look like the Taj Ma-fucking-hal. This photo really doesn't do the soul-destryoing ambiance justice. It's cramped, claustrophobic, badly-lit, freezing cold, and totally devoid of life or colour. It is an over-croweded, low-ceilinged (is that a word?), cave with flourescent lighting, rubber flooring, painfully uncomfortable furniture, and concrete, yes, CONRETE walls. I would say that it would make an exellent bunker, but I've been in the War Cabinet rooms in London, and frankly, they were more nicely furnished, and that WAS a bunker. Some people complain about the library, but most don't understand what i'm on about. This is because they've never been in a REAL library. Behold...
The Charles E. Shain Library at Connecticut College. My womb. The place of my birth, my awakening, the home of the happiest years of my life. This was our library. This is a library for just 1600 students, and it was open from 6 am to 1 am every day (inluding Sunday). Lovely, isn't it? Open spaces, comfortable furniture, beautiful art, plants, huge windows with loads of natural light. The collections are superb, the computers top of the line and plentiful, the printers are FREE, and the ILL system kicks your ass. Why, oh why! can't all libraries be like this?!
This is the inside of the library at the University of Bristol. It's evil. It is the throne of Satan. I thought Manchester was bad, but this place makes the John Rylands look like the Taj Ma-fucking-hal. This photo really doesn't do the soul-destryoing ambiance justice. It's cramped, claustrophobic, badly-lit, freezing cold, and totally devoid of life or colour. It is an over-croweded, low-ceilinged (is that a word?), cave with flourescent lighting, rubber flooring, painfully uncomfortable furniture, and concrete, yes, CONRETE walls. I would say that it would make an exellent bunker, but I've been in the War Cabinet rooms in London, and frankly, they were more nicely furnished, and that WAS a bunker. Some people complain about the library, but most don't understand what i'm on about. This is because they've never been in a REAL library. Behold...
The Charles E. Shain Library at Connecticut College. My womb. The place of my birth, my awakening, the home of the happiest years of my life. This was our library. This is a library for just 1600 students, and it was open from 6 am to 1 am every day (inluding Sunday). Lovely, isn't it? Open spaces, comfortable furniture, beautiful art, plants, huge windows with loads of natural light. The collections are superb, the computers top of the line and plentiful, the printers are FREE, and the ILL system kicks your ass. Why, oh why! can't all libraries be like this?!
11 comments:
Because having saved the world from totalitarian darkness by hocking our ass to America we couldn't afford to build top of the range anything, let alone libraries. America, fat from the profits of the Second World War obviously splurged on William Morris prints and books. Ironic really, seeing as very few of them can actually read.
CONRETE? Relation to concrete perhaps?
blah blah whatever. if it wasn't for us you lot would all be goose-stepping to work in the morning, so if we got a few perks from bailing your asses out, so be it.
and yes, i appreciate the irony of misspelling a word in a post where i brag about the quality of my library, but please allow that the C, S, and E keys of my computer have been sticking lately.
i am desparately envious of your superior writing abilities, bad spelling notwithstanding. don't give it another thought.
simply, sincerely, thanks for having a blog that a. isn't about politics 2. isn't about how much you love the lord, and 3. is written by a girl-type woman with a sense of humor. ignore the bad potty limey. bad, bad potty limey.
Hi there, FN, and welcome. Many happy returns.
Well, without wishing to add to the transatlantic rivalry here, I must admit that I couldn't help noticing that your American library there doesn't have any books in it. Call me old fashioned, but aren't books an essential part of a good library?
Sorry CB I don't like either of them. I agree with you that the Librabry at the University of Bristol is pretty yuck but I don't like the Charles E Shain library either. It's too light, too bright, too "designed". I prefer libraries that are dark and cramped with piles of books everywhere and the odd golden shimmer of a lamp poised atop a penscratched table in a hidden corner. (a bit like the philosphy dept at Senate House library in London which is where I spent many a happy hour)
absolutely, TB! that's why i mentioned the quality of the collections and the ILL system in the text. what i wanted to emphasize with the photos is that in addition to the books (notice i didn't complain about the collection in the bristol library, just the atmosphere), the CC library is a pleasant place to read, work, and study. It's the kind of place you WANT to be, not the the sort that makes you run screaming for your prozac.
I would guess, although it's just a hunch, that the operative words here are 'Charles E. Shain'. In the absence of huge charitable endowments, the spending priority for libraries should be the collections rather than the ambience.
HC: i like the sound of that as well.
GSE: what the hell else are rich alumni good for?
This just appeared on the CC website this afternoon. Speaking of rich alumni...
http://aspen.conncoll.edu/news/2333.cfm
how fucking awesome is that?! I think it speaks loads that 36% of the student body receive aid from the school. I know i was one of them, and it was drilled into me that if i'm ever in a position to help future students in the same manner, that i should remember all the help i got and pay it forward. Ruth Scheppe certainly took that message to heart. Thanks, dearie.
No, we wouldn't have been goose stepping. It just would have taken us longer.
Come back when you've won a war. And the Civil War doesn't count. For a start, you were fighting yourself and for another thing nobody won.
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