 |
 |
I have to admit I am very proud to share what my colleages have captured - Take a bow librarians! -----Original Message----- From: A discussion list for issues relating to New Zealand Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Liddicoat Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 5:51 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [PUBSIG] Junot Diaz on libraries Many of you will be aware that the Christchurch City Libraries team has been covering the Auckland Writers and Readers festival. I wanted to share some absolute gold with you that came from and interview with Pulitzer prize winner Junot Diaz. I will paste the text below, those with web access can visit http://cclblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/junot-diaz-on-librarians/ for the excerpt or http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Guides/GoodReads/WritersandReaders/20 08/Auckland/JunotDiaz/ for the full no-holds barred interview. Take a bow librarians! Richard Liddicoat. Free Armani for the rest of your life We had decided to ask most of our interview subjects about libraries, and if he wasn't a rock star before, Diaz won himself a librarian army when he said: "Libraries are a weird thing if you actually think about it. It's sort of like the logic of capital minus the logic of capital. It's a place where you can get books for free - and as long as you bring them back - everything's cool. "Could you imagine a clothing cultural component like that? Where you could, as long as you orderly waited and wrote your name on a list, rent out an Armani suit in brand new condition and just wear it and bring it back? "Both are products, it's just an accident of history that we've attributed one a cultural component and the other not. For a poor kid a library to me was as like a miracle to me as if you discovered if you could sign your name and take out a whole wardrobe of Armani clothes. Every day. For the rest of your life. That's what a library felt like." The assured, velvety-smooth drawl went on as whatever song the librarian army would sing was turned up to 11 on the old rotary dial stereo in staffrooms around the nation. "I never understood the image of librarians in popular culture. Old, sort-of doddering - every librarian I ever had was incredibly young, energetic and hip - even if they were 60. And would take their time for this snot-nose kid from the Dominican Republic to guide them to texts." "Everyone has this idea of the valiant archetype - the scout who leads you through the new land. New Zealand has that, the myths of all their like pioneers; Australia, the United States. "In the end, the only forest really worth being led through is the forest of the mind, books. In a sense librarians are these incredible scouts for this inner frontier. No-one views it as that but for me it was more important than anything having those kinds of scouts who would guide you..." The dream of the unwritten book Interviews are a weird way to meet people most of the time. You ask them to tell you a story, so that you can tell that story to someone else. You get paid to do so. It can feel like your are rummaging through their drawers, or rifling through their wallet as you take little snippets of lives and tell other people about them. Sometimes you get gifts that astonish you, words or revelations that you would have to double cross the devil to get. The devil might come after me, so read this quick - it is payback for all the times you've helped someone by the simple act of giving them a book. "Everybody makes a living in the arts world off playing up how rough and how tough and how loveless and how edgy their lives were," Diaz went on. "Mine was as tough as the next person; it wasn't a fun time. Librarians were the one utopian constant in a world that has no utopian constants. It was the only gift that I still dream about." I keep my mouth firmly shut, not knowing what was coming. "There's not a night that goes by that I don't dream that I'm in a library and I find a book that's never been written - a new Melville novel, a new Toni Morrison novel. In my dreams I always wake up when I check the book out. I have these dreams non-stop." Junot Diaz, rock star and superhero, I cross my arms with the double devil sign. Your suits are due back next Tuesday. ========================= This message was received because you have subscribed to the PUBSIG-L mailing list. If at any time you wish to leave the list send a message to [log in to unmask] placing unsubscribe PUBSIG-L in the message body or visit http://wwwlists.ccc.govt.nz/archives/PUBSIG-L.html ********************************************************************** This electronic email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Christchurch City Council. If you are not the correct recipient of this email please advise the sender and delete. Christchurch City Council http://www.ccc.govt.nz **********************************************************************