Library Blues
In my first year, I never studied in the library. I went home. But this year, the library and I have become one. The fluorescent lights, the plasticated wood tables - it's kind of cosy. Working in a library has always kind of appealed to me - especially an old one with stained-glass windows. I think I might have been a librarian in a prior life because there is only one thing that bothers me about this place. That is the ssssshhhhh sound of highlighters vandalising textbooks. I never highlight books, not since I found out they sell for almost twice as much when clean. But there's a principle to it as well - books are meant to last, are meant to be for future use. They're sort of timeless, and marking them up seems a dreadful shame - especially a new crisp book with lots of good years ahead of it. Now it's gotten to a point where I can't even bring myself to highlight coursepacks - all that wasted ink. That and the library cell-phone talkers...
Comments
Count yourself ALONE on that one!! The highlighter is generally the only thing keeping me concious during my readings. How do you know what is important if you don't highlight? A quick review of my texts would indicate that I think that everything is important. Although, admittedly, I could afford to go easy on the highlighter, my coloured texts remind me that whether I remember the content of an article or not -I definately read it at some point or another...........
Posted by: Sarita | October 25, 2005 10:54 AM
I can't say I share your highlighter phobia. For one, some books just aren't worth saving and cherishing (harsh, yes, but true). Secondly, highlighting is just plain practical (I didn't pay $100 for a textbook that I can't highlight). And lastly, isn't there something to be said for a well-used book? A book that is read so much and carted off everywhere that it inevitably takes a few beatings? Here, my argument falls apart... the books I cherish are usually the novels on my nightstand, not law textbooks... Maybe I'm just particularly sensitive as my mother is the book Nazi--I'm always nervous when returning a loaned book in case a page is bent or the cover somewhat curled up from use! (there is a limit, people!)
Posted by: catherine | October 25, 2005 04:42 PM