What Middletown Read

High on the list policies promoted by the American Library Association (ALA) are those that protect the privacy of library users. Due to the...

Josephus Larned, Pioneer Buffalo Librarian

The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library has a rich history that involved a number of outstanding librarians. I have written previously...

Thoreau's Trip West

May 11 will be the sesquicentennial of the start of Henry David Thoreau's 3,000 mile plus trip from Concord, Massachusetts to Minnesota ...

Early Railroad Libraries

At last year's Library History Seminar XII I attended a very interesting presentation on the Employees' Free Circulating Library of...

Fire - Enemy of Books

There is a delightful book titled The Enemies of Books by William Blades (Trubner, London, 1880, multiple editions) which covers multiple th...

Library Postcard Humor

As I have mentioned previously on this blog, library postcards are one of my collecting interests. Because there are thousands of library p...

Books for Soldiers and Sailors in the Civil War

The sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War is being celebrated this year. The  work of the American Library Association to provide ...