Books, that is. Bring Your Own Books.
The Citadel is a survival plan, pure and simple. We are anticipating some level of social/political/economic collapse and are building a defensible location to ride out the storm.
As part of that plan the Citadel needs to have its own library. Good old fashioned paper, in case the collapse goes full grid down and all of our wonderful electronics are of limited or no use. We especially need to have reference material, how to, history and educational materials (reading, writing and 'rithmatic). Of course a good selection of fiction has its place as would a good children's book section.
Many of you are probably like me and have accumulated a collection of these types of books over the years. They are heavy and take up a lot of room so I had been thinking of selling or giving most of them away. Now, however, I'm going through them and bringing the good ones to the Citadel to be donated to the library. If you are in the same situation and can afford the weight and space, please consider bringing your books with you and donating them to the Citadel library.
Our library will help preserve both our knowledge and our culture. In its own way it is as vital to our future as our food, water, firearms and city walls.
VJ
I have a vast collection of ebooks and the ability to charge a reader. One thing I do wish I had more of are classics and things of that nature.
ReplyDeleteEbooks are great. I've used them myself. They sure save a lot of space. I'm just the overly cautious type and would like to have that good old fashioned paper backup. Books don't break quite as easily as ebook readers, is all I'm saying.
DeleteE-books are a handy thing to have, and convenient to be sure, but they are certainly not a replacement for real books. No one can delete, or modify the hard copy version of 'Unintended Consequences' someone may have in their physical library.
DeleteIt also costs me no power to open up a book and read it during a power outage. They can be read by candlelight.
And there is nothing quite like teaching kids, when gathered around a book and letting them turn the pages. Sure beats "Gather around the E-book reader children. Timmy, will you tap the 'next page' icon please?" :P
There's a reason the main E-book reader is called 'kindle'. (Think Fahrenheit 451...)
One thing that would be good to do, after there is a physical space established for the Citadel Library (and before SHTF), is to have folks visit Thrift Stores, Goodwill, Ebay, and other such things and snatch up any good books they find for pennies on the dollar. Then they can all be sent via U.S. Media Mail (super cheap) to the Citadel. In this way folks who aren't there yet can send things they find to us, as well as folks can send their book donations ahead of themselves before they move for a very low price.
ReplyDeleteA lot of folks are going to have very little extra space when they're actually moving. This way, folks will be able to furnish books that they'd otherwise leave behind.
Get the library built first... and the books will come. :)
Excellent ideas, especially about media mail rates. It would only take a modest outlay by each individual for us to have a very fine library.
DeleteWife to be and I have a lot of books. She has a metric buttload of home schooling books, we have another buttload of homesteading type books combined.
ReplyDeleteOur thought was to put them in to the library when we get there. Seems others have been thinking the same way ;-)
Tell me we don't have this!!
I'm going to have to start putting some serious thought into The Citadel Society. The library has always been one of the main projects I thought it should sponsor. It probably isn't too early to begin making plans for efforts like this, especially as the Citadel project itself is moving forward and folks like us are starting to think in terms of what moving there will involve.
DeleteEven a secure, dry, temperature regulated storage area to use for staging the books would work beforehand, if the actual library isn't built. That will give it time to be built in due course, whilst still giving us some place to store all of the library donations. The bigger the better. You can never have too big of a library.
DeleteThe actual library, when built, should be at least two levels above ground, and including a basement that is the same size as the upper levels. This will give us plenty of space, as well as a place to store the more valuable books and insure them against fire and such.
Pre-SHTF, books can be had for pennies on the dollar.
Post-SHTF, books will be worth their weight in gold. Especially books on hands-on subjects, engineering, gardening, medicine, etc.
The more folks chime in on this, the more ideas we can get. So if ye have an idea or two, speak up folks! :)
Addendum: Also, finding examples of existing libraries (as well as pictures) will give us a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't as well as give us some concept of how to fit the most shelf space in the least amount of square footage.
DeleteAlso, if we have an architect onboard, they may be able to chime in on this and offer some ideas in that vein.
I've literally a room of overflowing (wall to wall) bookshelves! Every subject under the sun.... educational, fiction & nonfiction, etc.
ReplyDeleteElectronic devices are nice (I have a few book readers) but nothing beats an actual bound book in your hands..... no outages to worry about, no dead batteries to worry about, just light a candle and you're in business!
When the time comes I'd be pleased to donate whatever would be accepted.
Great idea and post VJ!
ReplyDeleteComfortable nooks and crannies to grab a book and curl up and let yourself go to whatever place you have chosen..A big roaring fire to sit around "surrounded by the wisdom of our forefathers" and discuss life, liberty and pursuit of true happiness..Large halls to hold meetings, dances, and anything else where we need lots of room... And last but not least walls and walls of books 20 or 30 feet high with ladders on track to roll around to pick out your favorite book...Where should we send pics or diagrams of our ideas
ReplyDeleteI would be intetesred, especially since I'm the one who brought it up. We are getting a forum ready to go. We will have message and chat capability. We should be posting the info here soon.
DeleteYou definitely sound like you grasp the concept. ;-)
VJ
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