The Copper Curmudgeon ~ By, Mike Shevlin

The Good Old Days of the Library . . .

There was a day when study time meant a trip to the Library either at the school or the County Library. A book report assignment was a given reason to go because even if you had the full set of Encyclopedia Britannia your folks bought from the door to door salesman the information you needed was at the Library.

Now as a young kid the Library was a confusing place with old women that gave the “death stare” when you talked. It took a couple of years and a great English teacher to help me understand the card file system to find reference materials.

Then I started dating this cute blonde in High School that a few years later eventually gave into my pleading and married me . . . now while we were dating the Library had a whole different purpose. My future Mother-in-law had rules about dating during the school week . . . rule one . . . no dating during school week. That rule stunk!

But . . . I was allowed to pick up my girlfriend if she needed to go to the Library to “study” during the week . . .  see where I’m going with this? The trip was to go to the Library in Pleasant Hill, we checked out two books each, then headed for Lippert’s Ice Cream Parlor in Walnut Creek. And since we had gone to the Library and came back with books . . . the old lady believed that was where we had spent the last three hours . . . boy was she dumb . . . or so I thought.

And my kids today want to know why I stalk them on my IPhone . . . teenagers are very good at being where they should not be . . . I know this to be true because I was the master!

So the Libraries in our County are struggling due to the economic situation and the Library here in Copper is one of the hardest hit. Not a good situation and with the new electronic age . . . books are becoming obsolete.

Blackberries, IPhones, IPads and a plethora of other devices support apps like Kindle, Nook, Apple, Magic Keys and lots of others providing access to most any book including all literature, reference materials and now textbooks online for purchase.

On a trip back to the Bay Area last week we noticed a Borders bookstore going out of business . . . newspapers are struggling to sell printed copies . . . signs of the times I’m afraid to report.

Oh printed books will always be available you say . . . the buggy whip factories said those new fangled horseless carriages would never last either . . . seen any of those factories lately? So there goes the printed book.

Now wait until some bright School administrator says, “Hey we’re out of money and these kids all want to bring their IPhones to school . . . make the parents buy their textbooks so we don’t have to have that problem and look at the money we will save plus no more lost books.”

One of my best excuses was, “I left my book at home” there goes that excuse. With your books on your IPhone or IPad and openly exposed in their hand because without the IPhone the kids can’t send text messages to their crew . . . they have their “books” . . . no excuse. Oh yeah . . . and no more need for a locker.   

Now one of my daughters is graduating this year and we received a nice notice from the office telling us that in her past few years of time at Bret Harte she has lost three books and I need to pay $163.00 or she cannot get her diploma . . . I can tell you this . . . in the past few years she has not lost her IPod . . . so if I had the books on the IPod she would know exactly where they are right now . . . just saying and either way it costs me $163.00.

It would also be great once her books are on her electronic device to see what excuse her boyfriend would give me to date her during the week . . . not many things the old woman and I agreed on but I adopted her rule of no dating during the school week. The old lady wasn’t that dumb.

Now with the girl having access to everything and the Libraries closed . . . well let’s just say he better come up with a real good one . . . oh yeah . . . and I can electronically stalk her every move while she is with him while they are “studying”.

I know . . . just sit here and be quiet . . .

The Copper Curmudegeon is an opinion column...the opinions and views of the author are not necessarily those of the Copper Gazette.