Say goodbye to the library's bookstacks, just for a while

         The things I want to know are in books;

         my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.

                                                             --Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday was the Racine Public Library's last day of "open stacks" for a while. Three months, to be exact. The second floor adult department of the library will be closed until sometime in November, as carpeting is replaced, new study rooms are constructed and bookstacks are moved around.

That doesn't mean that readers have to take a vacation, of course, although they will not be able to browse through the stacks -- picking up this or that, thumbing through this novel or that picture book, looking for the perfect read. Library staff will still provide books ordered in advance -- via phone call or the online library catalog -- and runners at the circulation desk will be able, in most cases, to collect books on-demand ... well, within a few minutes. And there's always the Bookmobile. But the serendipity of discovery ... that will have to wait.

Meanwhile, the kids' department on the first floor will be open as usual, and current magazines, newspapers and computer terminals will be located on the library's first floor as well.

For more on how the library is dealing with this temporary  bookstack-shutdown, read Library Director Jessica MacPhail's explanation, HERE and HERE.

There's just no substitute for the serendipity of browsing the fiction stacks...

Library offers more than books, of course. She's making her music selections.

I expected long check-out lines today, but I guess patrons are unconcerned.

---

Get more Post! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Want to advertise? Learn how!