Let’s be honest. At this point in time there is nothing new or particularly innovative about blogging. 15 years ago it was viewed as an odd, somewhat self-indulgent activity. Amusingly there was a bit of fear surrounding it as well. I dont know if you happen to remember the heady Reviewers-That-Blog-Will-Kill-Print-Reviews scare of the early 21st
century, but if the writers of those pieces were to be believed then in five years all newspapers and print periodicals would cease to exist and we would find ourselves in a world where people without the requisite skills to criticize written works would rule the roost. Now we have entered 2016, a year that will witness not just the Centennial of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland but the anniversary of the crash of the Hindenberg, the 200th Anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth, and more!
Here at Evanston Public Library, blogging has been going on for years. Whether its the Off the Shelf blog (The Arts & Culture Blog of Evanston Public Library), EPL Means (Small) Business! (which provides News about the Evanston Public Library’s resources for small business, and items of interest to Evanstons business community), The Loft Blog (which is for EPLs teens and readers of YA literature), not to mention blogs for EPLs various book groups, there’s a huge array to choose from. Why on earth add another?
The answer is simple. Evanston Public Library and Evanston itself deserves to know about all the trends, highlights, and interesting features of the literary community both here and at large. Local bloggers come and go, the most consistent being Evanston Newbie, but few Evanston-centric blog concentrate on literature and books specifically as they relate to our part of the world.
So hello! I am your host, Betsy Bird. Having come to you from New York City where I was New York Public Librarys Youth Materials Specialist, I’ve moved to Evanston and taken up residence as EPL’s Collection Development Manager. I see lots of books, both new and old, and after a while I have this nutty inclination to share them. What are the crazy new trends on the horizon? What hidden gems might you have missed? What’s EPL up to these days that’s below the radar (you know all about Hoopla right now, right)?
For the next week and a half I’m kicking things off with a bang. Starting tomorrow we shall count down the Top Ten Things You Didn’t Know About the Evanston Public Library. Oh. I see that look in your eyes. You’re wondering how interesting such a list can be, aren’t you? Well, what if I told you this list will include everything from mysterious statues, fake paintings, and corpses on the reference desk, to celebrities like Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson?
Stay tuned, folks. This is only the beginning.
