April is a month for us to celebrate libraries, including both National Library Week and School Library Month. Libraries have served as storehouses of information since ancient times, dating back to the 7th century BC with the library of Ashurbanipal located in present day Iraq. Libraries have existed throughout history to preserve information for future generations, but it was only within the past two centuries that libraries became public institutions open to all. Peterborough Town Library, the world’s first public library, funded by taxes, did not open until 1833 in New Hampshire. Public libraries grew in number across the United States thanks largely to donations from wealthy philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie alone funded nearly 1,700 libraries across the country, no doubt many of us in the Chicago area have visited one. Encyclopedia Britannica has a great article where you can learn more about the history of libraries. College libraries, like the Moraine Valley Community College Library, are staffed with certified librarians who are trained in research and instruction and ready to help support your information needs. They also have great collections of books available for you to check out in a variety of formats. Libraries hold such a fond spot in our hearts, they often end up the topic of bestselling novels. In honor of all that libraries do, let’s look at some great library themed books available for you to check out through Moraine Valley Community College Library’s subscription to eRead. Here is a Digital Resource Help guide in case you need help getting logged on.
On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal. Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve, hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.
