Monday, April 03, 2006

extension

In my youth i owned only very few books, cherished birthday presents of my beloved father. But we were eager readers so we went to the library most of the time. I took the maximum of books every week. And happily returned them on Sunday (libraries were still open on Sundays!) to take again a new load. Oh what sweet memories.
When i grew older and slowly moved to the teenage books, we were always very happy when we could trick the librarian and take a book a little "over age". By the age of 18 i read almost everything, even the "hidden, secret" adultbooks.
(Oh, and yes i kissed my first boyfriend in the library. Actually he kissed me, i was far too shy)
Once i started to earn my own money, i started to built my own collection of books. I consider my little library my extented memory. Nice to have, terrible to dust, but still growing.
So when the computer age started (yes i am that old) i hoped that this would reduce the amount of books and paper. But in vain, because now i started to print everything that catched my attention on the net.
So next to the books, the piles of paper were growing, drawers were filled to the brim, new cupboards were bought, new rooms were built etc...
I was drawing into paper!
And now i am working in the library, so maybe i will calm down a bit and stop the urge to fill my extended memory.. But...
When my boss showed me around in the library, we ended up in the cellar, where stocks are kept.
... (sharp intake of breath)
There is one cellar with the written-off books, the redundant books ( i don't know the exact word in English). One could make an offer or otherwise they were given to charity or just destroyed. I went completlu crazy!!!! All these books????
Imagine all these writers struggling to finish these books for weeks, months, years. Sending the manuscript to editors, again waiting so long. And then finally printed. In the bookshelves. In the hands of a reader... And now these books had been remaindered!
What about one more extension to the house? I want to adopt those books!
I will have to make a few strong arguments on this, because i know what the answer will be of my family! Maybe i can find a book on DIY building another extension!

Anyway on the first floor of the library is this nice glass display where some old manuscripts are shown. My boss said it is up to some change and he was hoping someone could bring an interesting subject to show in the future. So i was thinking, maybe, maybe... i can put up a little exposition with my books on sikhism?
This would mean an extension of my introductionseva. I will work this out very carefully, i don't want to stumble. It has to be an eyecatcher or nothing!
Problem is that most books are in English or Punjabi. Only a few in Dutch. OK, who is going to translate this. Don't look at me, i barely keep my blog in proper English.

On Saturday i worked already on the new media departement. At some moments the users of the computers were all non Belgians. All refugees and migrants. So i did not leave my path dedicated to refugees at all! And there were quite some sikh youngsters. Which made me realise that the library is certainly a big competion for the indian teleshops.
"Sat shri akla, did i see you in the gurdwara?"
Yes you did.
"Did i see you in the library?"
So this is an extension to meeting my sangat.
Everything is just going to be fine. Waheguru!

1 Comments:

Blogger manpreet kaur said...

Ooops, proper English??
I meant ofcourse

"I am drowning in paper"

Saturday, April 08, 2006 9:10:00 AM  

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