Speaking of Cookbooks and Libraries
I wonder what you can learn about a community based on what they use their library for. Of course, it's a part of our mission to represent all points of views and cover all topics, but there are some subjects that are obviously more in demand. We have more materials about those subjects and we see them check out more. The areas that stand out to me as the top three in our (adult) collection are:
- Health/medicine
- Cooking
- Crafts
Followed by a second tier that includes:
- Travel
- Gardening
- Home decorating/improvement
- Self help (general)
- Relationships (specific self help)
- Making money (specific self help)
- Religion/spirituality
- True crime
Anything you other library folks would add or remove?
I'm not sure what this says about us as a community, but I think it does say something about the library. As much as we like to tout ourselves as an educational institution and a key component of a democratic society, it looks like people basically perceive us as recreational. We meet leisure needs much more often than essential ones.
posted by Degolar @ 4:55 PM
2 Comments:
Darn bullets never work for me on this blog . . .
I can certainly see the recreation point of view, but a lot of the topics you mention in your list can certainly be seen as educational: learning how to cook or make new recipes, teaching yourself about gardening or DIY. True, they may be recreational pursuits, but they may well be learning something. Health definitely would fall into that. And yes, I wonder what it would say about other libraries if we look at what they circulate. Best, and keep on blogging.
P.S. I got here via the Annoyed Librarian.
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