Summer 2007: I had just graduated from college and found myself unemployed and living with my parents. I knew that I liked libraries, spent a lot of time in my college’s library, and was considering applying to library school. Before I took the leap, however, I decided to spend some time volunteering at some local libraries in order to determine whether it was really what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So I started volunteering at the book sale place at the Free Library of Philadelphia. With some other volunteers, I helped shelve, sort and sell books to the public for like, $0.50 each. Unfortunately for me, I had to deal with the volunteer from hell: she had a tendency to over share (no, I really don’t want to know about your cold sores), was rude, lazy, and just a general pain to deal with. One day, she went wandering through the shelves and noticed there were a ton of Scientology books there and this sent her on a rant about how Scientology is a cult and how dare the library sell books about it, etc. According to the volunteer coordinator, these books are donated to the library from a Scientology organization. Now, I know very little about Scientology other than that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. I’ll admit that I think he’s done some crazy things, but I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say that Scientology is a cult because of one person’s actions. What I’m saying is that I’d like to know more before I pass judgment. Furthermore, I’d like to defend FLP’s selling of Scientology books by saying the following:
- The Scientology books weren’t treated any differently then donated books of any other subject.
- Nobody was forcing anyone else to read said books on Scientology.
The Free Library of Philadelphia is a public library, supported by tax dollars and as such, no book should be censored from the library. My stance is that if I’m paying my taxes, the library sure as hell be willing to hook me up with whatever book I want to read, if they don’t own a copy they should be willing to get it through inter-library loan. Libraries are not about telling people what they can read or what they should think. Libraries are about making information avalible to people so they can make informed decisions for themselves.
Random Posts:
In lieu of doing the 101 things in 1001 days challenge, I thought I’d try doing a series of mini challenges. For more information, please visit the challenge page.
Challenge Title: 50 books in 2010
About: 2009 was the first year in which I kept track of the books I read. By the end of the year, I’d read an embarrassingly low number of books, which I found disappointing. I’ve always enjoyed reading; I guess I had a hard time finding books I liked or got distracted or something over the course of the year. In 2010, my goal is to read 50 books. I think that’s doable: it’s about a book a week.
Rules:
- I must read 50 books by 11:59 on 31 December 2010.
- All books must be read entirely in 2010; books started in 2009 and completed in 2010 and/or books started in 2010 but finished in 2011 DO NOT count.
- If I end up reading the same book more than once in 2010, it only counts once.
- I must update the list below & include a Goodreads link every time I finished a book
Books Read
- I Was a Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
- The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
- Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton
- Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick
- The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Deenie by Judy Blume
- Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
- Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body by Kate Harding, Marianne Kirby
Last Update: 01 April 2010
You might also like:
I’m officially a total looser who spent her Saturday night doing blog related shit. I’ve officially discovered that I like tumblr and decided to expand my tumblr to include more than just my formspring Q&A; I’ve decided to make it my random shit from various social networking sites blog.
And, in other news, my application to join 20sb was approved and I’m trying to decide if I like it or not. Oh, if you wanna see my profile, it’s here.
And now, I’m in much need of a shower.
You might also like:
In lieu of doing the 101 things in 1001 days challenge, I thought I’d try doing a series of mini challenges. For more information, please visit the challenge page.
Challenge Title: Journals
About: Those of you who know me well enough know that I keep what I like to call paper journals, as in, physical journals that have actual paper in them. Starting with the last journal I filled up, I’ve been numbering the journals I’ve been keeping. The goal of this challenge is to fill up the journal I’m currently writing in, plus fill up two more journals by the end of July 2011 for the total of four numbered journals.
Rules:
- I must fill up the journal I’m currently writing in, plus two others by 11:59 pm on the 31st of July, 2011.
- I must label the spines of the journals I complete with a number; the one I’m currently working on is “2″, the one after that is “3″, and the one after that is “4″.
- I must post here when I complete one of the journals.
#1 (completed: ???)
#2
#3
#4
Last update: 27 January 2010
You might also like:
Sue. 20-something. Unemployed bum. Philadelphian.Plans on attending graduate school and hopes to be a librarian. Likes 
