I stumbled across an old friend the other day – my personal and private newspaper editor’s library.
Most people my age have accumulated a vast trove of books to use both for work and pleasure; when trying to figure something out or find a reference for some vexing problem.
Mine was wonderful. Just so much great information that was very pertinent to Wyoming and directly tied to things I was doing as a newspaper man.
I was an author, editor, and publisher for 55 years and collected more than a dozen huge shelve-sets full of books. Besides those shelves, which are located in three different locations (my home office, some shelf-sets prominently displayed in our house, and some selected locations in my basement), we also have scores of books in boxes scattered around in some old warehouse spaces.
My Editor’s Library
Recently, I stumbled upon my newspaper editor library – stashed out of sight in the rear of a storage building on our property that was once my office. This library was my most treasured best friend over the years.
It contains so many reference books that are not needed today, like books of maps, gazetteers, memoirs, almanacs, encyclopedias, coffee table books, and more. The Wyoming Almanac by Phil Roberts and his two brothers is among my most treasured.
Another old book featuring the most influential people in the state probably comes up next, though just about everybody in there is dead now. It came out in 1972. As a publisher myself, I often thought about doing another version reflecting the present.
This library has lots of books about Wyoming, which can provide endless reading about the origin of place names and the geology oddities of our endlessly fascinating state.
I had moved to my current office about eight years ago and never got around to moving those books.
It was with a warm feeling of familiarity that I greeted my old (book) friends. As I leafed through some of the books two things happened:
• Dust and lint sailed into the air from years of obscurity.
• I actually felt a little guilt for not visiting with my old friends for so long.
Could it be that I could now get along without these sources of knowledge, which had been so indispensable to me?
The unfortunate answer is a resounding yes!
Feeling Of Serendipity
When I wrote about this some five years ago, History Prof. Steve Thulin of Powell’s Northwest Community College offered some insights: “When you revisited your old friends, you experienced something that you and I once experienced in libraries – the blessings of serendipity.
“Wandering through stacks of real books, you are drawn to a volume out of mere curiosity on a subject you had not targeted on your expedition. And hours later you had read scores of pages about something you had not imagined – accidental growth!
“It can happen even in your own home library when you haul down a book unvisited for years and you read it with different eyes. And you don't know why you decided to grab that book, that day.
“You don't get that serendipity from the highly-targeted process that so rapidly delivers a specific title to your iPhone or via Google on your computer.”
Good points.
Tucker Fagan of Cheyenne said he shares the same problem, mostly caused by what is considered progress.
“You and I are facing a time in our lives when we realize that the yellow pad and pencil we thought all we needed has been replaced by digital everything. We are like our grandparents who were amazed that a plane could fly, then a jet and now space satellites and travel.
“Hopefully we have not impeded this tidal wave – we are mere sand crabs.”
Three things have caused me to not need this library any longer. First was the advent of computers, which can store gigantic amounts of information.
Second is the Internet, where I can go and access just about anything that was on these shelves.
Third was my Kindle initially, an effective little e-reader from Amazon, and now my iPhone.
There is a Kindle application on my iPhone that allows me to “read” my e-books on that tiny phone! Amazing. It works so well, I never picked up my Kindle again – just read books on my phone. What a shock.
A Library In Our Home
Folks of my generation also aspire to have their own private libraries.
My late friends Dave and May Raynolds of Lander owned a house, which was lined with shelf after shelf of books. I was always envious. The Dartmouth-educated Raynolds even had a ladder installed like in a library so he could access every volume.
It was stuffy but so impressive.
Dr. Dale and Jen Peterson of Lander built a beautiful new house outside Lander and it also has a library, of which they are very proud.
And finally, my wife Nancy has been nagging me to create a larger library space in our house. “We have so many great books. They should be where we can get to them,” she argues.
Not surprisingly, I have been resisting.
Despite my pride in them, I think these books will become dust catchers going forward into the future. Someday our kids and grandkids will have to lug all these books to some terrible place (like the dump?).
No, we have enough shelves. Will I win this argument?
Meanwhile, I am not going to dismantle my office library. It will continue to exist a little while longer. Or at least until I rent out that space.
But I promise to visit my old friends more often.
In the meantime, my computer will continue to store more data and my iPhone will provide me with any reading that I want to do.
