Afterlife U

In my travels across the blogosphere and in my role as a librarian, I have encountered many individuals that live in the work ‘afterlife’. Some are retired; others have downshifted; and still more fall into that undefined but ever-growing ‘post-corporate’ world. What all of the above are after is a good (better) quality of life: balanced, enriched, and interesting.

There’s no better place than a public library to help achieve that. Most North American cities and towns have one, and believe me, there are many out there who have yet to take advantage. Those, in fact, least likely to do so are twenty-five to sixty year-old working males (studies have been done), who are presumably too busy to read. Corporate life is all-absorbing, and it is only when one steps off the merry-go-round, that one ‘discovers’ some of the things that have been missed. It doesn’t have to wait until then, but often, that’s what it takes.

One can truly create a new life through a public library, and connect to one’s community in amazing ways. The trick is to become a regular. This sounds silly, but the more your librarians and library staff know you and your habits, the better served you will be. They may put books aside for you that they know you’ll like, or be able to create tailor-made reading lists that suit your taste. They can help you create a personalized ‘continuing education’ course with the resources at the library (including inter-library loans for the material they don’t have), supplying you with a bibliography of the most appropriate books, websites, articles, and other information sources. As an aside, it’s also nice to have friendly and familiar faces greet you and address you by name.

Besides these services, most public libraries offer a range of programs, including: language courses, history lectures, book clubs, storytelling, concerts, author talks, films, symposia, current events discussions, workshops, computer lessons, wine-tasting, and much, much more. More often than not, these are free or very inexpensive, and of good quality.

You will find more than just books as well. Public libraries have a wide variety of audiovisual materials, and all carry quite a few newspapers and magazines. We have our newspaper regulars, who come in exclusively to read their dailies and then leave. They don’t pay for subscriptions and they don’t have them accumulating in their homes.

I could go on ad nauseum about the merits of public libraries, but instead, I’ll just suggest that you pay yours a visit. The chances are that they offer more than you think. They are there to serve you; all you have to do is let them.

Comments

[David St Lawrence]

Great post!

This is a resource I have not given enough attention to in my blog or in my recent book. I also like the term "afterlife", as it is more colorful than "post-corporate" which I use frequently.

Keep up the good work. As long as you write with passion you will continue to attract new readers.