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| Yosemite Nation Park by Robert Dawson |
Books are the heart of the library.
Doesn’t matter if it’s marble or concrete block.
Doesn’t matter if it’s 30 or 30,000 square feet.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a city centerpiece or shares space with the post office.
Books are the heart of the library.
I remembered the books when I saw a tiny part of Robert Dawson’s big, fat, hairy American Public Library Project. Dawson is an award winning photographer from California who has photographed hundred of libraries since 1994. His work is currently on exhibition at the San Francisco Library. The goal of his project is to “explore our culture's relationship to libraries and their role in contemporary American society” and his work makes the changing paradigm of library design clear. The photos slide across the screen revealing gargoyles, green roofs, bookmobiles, rifle ranges, reading rooms and library trailers. The pictures are a testament to the amazing diversity of American libraries.
But what I was reminded of when I enjoyed his work was that the kernel of every building was a community’s desire to bring books to people. The reason that people create libraries is, and has been, at least since the Carnegie era, to offer each other the chance to read, learn, grown, think, travel and dream - the shell of the offer matters less than the core.
My favorites portraits from Dawson’s online show? The library/post office combination in Tuscarora, Nevada, the Brooklyn Library Doors, the library in the woods at Yosemite and interior of the library in Newport, Vermont.
These tiny slices of library life demonstrate the universal joy that comes from going to the library.
I thought about the people that really counted on their libraries as their only chance to get their hands on books. They probably value their libraries even more than the people who have access to acres of book shelves, bookstores and more culture than they could possibly digest. So, in a way, the smallest, most remote libraries are probably more valued by their patrons that the iconic library monuments in our big cities. I was struck by how amazingly different the libraries were from each other but how special each one was to it’s community.
Just like our mothers always told us, “It doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that counts.”
Turns out they were right - again.
Doesn’t really matter what you wear or drive or how your jewelry sparkles. But what is at your core counts.
Your core is who you really are, what you believe in, what you’ll stand up for, what drive you.
Everyone has a core reason for being (whether they are proud of it or not) but sometimes we lose our focus and get wrapped up in the stuff that doesn’t matter.
Sometimes our core values are lost in the daily shuffle of our busy lives.
Laundry, cooking, driving, cleaning, working, sleeping all take time and energy away from focusing on our priorities.
My husband, however, is an expert. His reason for being is sailing. His core is filled with the lure of water. That is what he is all about. Whenever there is an opportunity to go sailing, he takes it. He has been across the country and around the world sailing. He has sailed with hundred of people on big boats, little boats, slow boats and rockets. He is true to himself, makes his choices based on his heart and never worries about his shell, I don’t even think he looks in the mirror (honest!).
Think about what is in your heart, at your core.
Don’t worry about your hair, makeup or clothes - worry about your reason for being.
Worry about finding your passion.
And when you find it display it on your bookshelf for everyone to see and appreciate.
Doesn’t matter if it’s marble or concrete block.
Doesn’t matter if it’s 30 or 30,000 square feet.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a city centerpiece or shares space with the post office.
Books are the heart of the library.
I remembered the books when I saw a tiny part of Robert Dawson’s big, fat, hairy American Public Library Project. Dawson is an award winning photographer from California who has photographed hundred of libraries since 1994. His work is currently on exhibition at the San Francisco Library. The goal of his project is to “explore our culture's relationship to libraries and their role in contemporary American society” and his work makes the changing paradigm of library design clear. The photos slide across the screen revealing gargoyles, green roofs, bookmobiles, rifle ranges, reading rooms and library trailers. The pictures are a testament to the amazing diversity of American libraries.
But what I was reminded of when I enjoyed his work was that the kernel of every building was a community’s desire to bring books to people. The reason that people create libraries is, and has been, at least since the Carnegie era, to offer each other the chance to read, learn, grown, think, travel and dream - the shell of the offer matters less than the core.
My favorites portraits from Dawson’s online show? The library/post office combination in Tuscarora, Nevada, the Brooklyn Library Doors, the library in the woods at Yosemite and interior of the library in Newport, Vermont.
These tiny slices of library life demonstrate the universal joy that comes from going to the library.
I thought about the people that really counted on their libraries as their only chance to get their hands on books. They probably value their libraries even more than the people who have access to acres of book shelves, bookstores and more culture than they could possibly digest. So, in a way, the smallest, most remote libraries are probably more valued by their patrons that the iconic library monuments in our big cities. I was struck by how amazingly different the libraries were from each other but how special each one was to it’s community.
Just like our mothers always told us, “It doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that counts.”
Turns out they were right - again.
Doesn’t really matter what you wear or drive or how your jewelry sparkles. But what is at your core counts.
Your core is who you really are, what you believe in, what you’ll stand up for, what drive you.
Everyone has a core reason for being (whether they are proud of it or not) but sometimes we lose our focus and get wrapped up in the stuff that doesn’t matter.
Sometimes our core values are lost in the daily shuffle of our busy lives.
Laundry, cooking, driving, cleaning, working, sleeping all take time and energy away from focusing on our priorities.
My husband, however, is an expert. His reason for being is sailing. His core is filled with the lure of water. That is what he is all about. Whenever there is an opportunity to go sailing, he takes it. He has been across the country and around the world sailing. He has sailed with hundred of people on big boats, little boats, slow boats and rockets. He is true to himself, makes his choices based on his heart and never worries about his shell, I don’t even think he looks in the mirror (honest!).
Think about what is in your heart, at your core.
Don’t worry about your hair, makeup or clothes - worry about your reason for being.
Worry about finding your passion.
And when you find it display it on your bookshelf for everyone to see and appreciate.
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