I'm just looking for a place to post my book reviews and lists. Don't know if the blog format will work...
No particular reason anyone should care what I'm reading, or what I recommend. But I do seem to have a knack for recommending good books to people, at least people in my small circle of friends. Mostly I read non-fiction. I'm a librarian, so I know how to track books down, and how to mine library catalogs for books on all kinds of subjects. I have access to two wonderful library systems--the University of Wisconsin, and Madison Public Library/South Central Library System. Why are they so great? UW-Madison has a huge library system, and it's one of the biggest (and, as an employee, in my humble opinion) one of the best research libraries around. The wonderful collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society are included in it. That library's been around since the 1850's, and it's nationally renowned for its North American history collection. And if the 40-odd libraries on the Madison campus don't have a book, there are 13 other UW campuses that I can borrow books from.
Then there's Madison Public Library and the South Central Library System. Madison PL's great because it collects a hefty dose of academic titles as well as a broad and deep public library collection. Its branches do a nice job of tailoring their collections to their neighborhoods. And Madison belongs to a big system of other public libraries in the state. The system includes libraries for small rural communities, small towns, and small cities. So there's great variety among those collections.
I still haven't bought a book through Amazon yet, so I doubt I'll be linking to Amazon's descriptions (or any other descriptions). I love many features of Amazon--customer reviews, page views. But I have avoided actually paying for anything online. For tracking down specific used books, I've become a fan of abebooks.com I find listings there, then I contact the booksellers directly. It's been fun! And I try to buy most of my new books at independent bookstores (though I do visit Borders and Barnes & Noble occasionally).
This has been fun! I might be able to do this after all!
No particular reason anyone should care what I'm reading, or what I recommend. But I do seem to have a knack for recommending good books to people, at least people in my small circle of friends. Mostly I read non-fiction. I'm a librarian, so I know how to track books down, and how to mine library catalogs for books on all kinds of subjects. I have access to two wonderful library systems--the University of Wisconsin, and Madison Public Library/South Central Library System. Why are they so great? UW-Madison has a huge library system, and it's one of the biggest (and, as an employee, in my humble opinion) one of the best research libraries around. The wonderful collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society are included in it. That library's been around since the 1850's, and it's nationally renowned for its North American history collection. And if the 40-odd libraries on the Madison campus don't have a book, there are 13 other UW campuses that I can borrow books from.
Then there's Madison Public Library and the South Central Library System. Madison PL's great because it collects a hefty dose of academic titles as well as a broad and deep public library collection. Its branches do a nice job of tailoring their collections to their neighborhoods. And Madison belongs to a big system of other public libraries in the state. The system includes libraries for small rural communities, small towns, and small cities. So there's great variety among those collections.
I still haven't bought a book through Amazon yet, so I doubt I'll be linking to Amazon's descriptions (or any other descriptions). I love many features of Amazon--customer reviews, page views. But I have avoided actually paying for anything online. For tracking down specific used books, I've become a fan of abebooks.com I find listings there, then I contact the booksellers directly. It's been fun! And I try to buy most of my new books at independent bookstores (though I do visit Borders and Barnes & Noble occasionally).
This has been fun! I might be able to do this after all!
posted by Beth at 10:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home