Saturday, August 13, 2011

Another One Bites the Dust

It couldn't have been a month ago when Jackson discovered it would lose it's last NEW bookstore. At that point, the newspaper pointed out that the Christian bookstore Agape would order books. Now they have announced they are closing too. As it turns out, the Book Exchange, our extensive used book store, can order books too. But that isn't the problem. People can 'order' books from lots of places. The problem is that we don't have a general bookstore with current material, a place we can browse, be inspired, and maybe exchange a few words about what we are reading. On the other hand, where is the profit to be made in that exchange? A word of advice to Jackson: Love your library and use and support it lest it too be gone.

You can read the article in today's Jackson Citizen Patriot HERE.
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  1. Cynthia L. LandrumSunday, August 14, 2011

    The scene around here makes me regret even more that we didn't pass that millage for the library a couple of years ago. It would've allowed them to expand hours and put in a coffee shop. Imagine--browsing the local library late and curling up with your book and a cup of coffee. Who needs a little Borders Express here with a library like that?

    And yes, I agree that ordering books has never been the issue. We can order books from Amazon.com. The point is having the place to be, to look at the shelves, to sit down and read a bit--the leisurely bookstore afternoon or evening. And coffee helps, too. But we haven't had that sort of bookstore here since the short-lived Nomad closed its doors, and it was still limited on number of titles it could accommodate. It at least had some eclectic sections where one might encounter something new, but what it had in that respect it lacked for in the mass-market titles, if you wanted to just sit down with coffee and peruse some pulp fiction. The Borders Express and Agape, and even that little bookstore that used to be on West Ave. were, well, book Expresses, designed to get you in and get you out while you're on other trips around the mall--not too unlike the book aisles at Target or Meijer, really. I still miss Nomad, and I'll miss the Borders larger stores, and I miss the book presence in general in Jackson, but we haven't had a good book experience book store here in quite some time--if ever? I don't know, I've only been here seven years...

    Yep, my hope lies with our library. Treasure it & cherish it folks. It's what you've got.

    And next time, pass the dang millage.

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