A few thoughts about The library book

The Library Book by Susan Orlean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a history of the Los Angeles Public Library, focused on the central library building. It is both about a library fire, and not about this. It contains interesting descriptions of daily work of public libraries, and shows some of the collections and services provided by Los Angeles Public Library. It highlights the importance of qualified and experienced library staff. Selected resources used for the research are listed. There is no index. This book is likely to appeal to people who enjoy descriptive accounts, and I really enjoyed many parts of this book. There is an interesting section on the early librarians who ran the Los Angeles Public Library - not all were librarians and there were some dastardly deeds as at least one librarian was forced out of her job.

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