As our world changes faster and faster, one of the things I will miss will be inventive bookmarks.
I'm afraid that as e-readers become more and more predominate, the printed word will become the electronic word, which will make bookmarks obsolete along with antique record album covers, Kodachrome film, book covers, slide rules, typewriters, and other relics of the past.
I pause to wonder what the museums of the future will display as the great writings of the past as they now display copies of the original Declaration of Independence, The Book of Kells, The Constitution, or The Magna Carta. Maybe all museums will be online and we won't be able to see the historical past except electronically. The Ancient Library of Alexandria has been replaced by a replica with exhibits showing reproductions of papyrus scrolls.
I'm greatly impressed by the mission of the Library of Congress to preserve the many antiquities of our country and the many generations of media that have come and gone.
I've always loved interesting bookmarks with beautiful pictures and fabulous quotes. When I was a librarian, even the high school students enjoyed getting a free bookmark appropriate to their interests. The elementary school students competed for bookmarks as rewards for outstanding contributions in the library whether it was for reading a lot of books or sitting quietly during story time.
The possibilities for projects to produce original bookmarks is endless and promotion of bookstores, specific books, or other causes lend themselves very well to bookmark production. However, no one will need them if we stop printing paper books. I hope that is not too soon because there is something nostalgic about holding a print book in my hands. Availability of e-books for new releases isn't 100%, so we still have time before everything can be downloaded to an electronic reader. Even so, for a small fee, one can join huge metropolitan public libraries online and download mass numbers of e-books to a Nook for free. It is getting very tempting.
As I borrow more and more books from public libraries, I like to use bookmarks to avoid creasing pages and damaging the book for future patrons, nor would I write corrections in margins of a public property book. With no more space to store more books in my home, I share books with others at the public library and remind myself not to fold pages, eat over books or drop drinks on them. I don't like to damage my own books and I don't like to deface public property library books. I try to be considerate of other patrons. I haven't yet joined the legions of e-reader fans, but it's on the horizon for all of us. I'm waiting a little longer to jump on that speeding train.
For me nothing beats the feel and smell of a book ... but I think progress will engulf me. From an early age we were taught to use book markers and I have even(in the past) spent hours making my own. I have two that I always use - I have had them both for over 10 years now and I would be very sad to loose them.
ReplyDeleteI look for book markers that are the right size for me. I don't know how I will get along without books, you know, the heft and feel of them. I'm still buying them, dinosaur that I am.
ReplyDeleteThis is spooky, since I just sorted through my stacks and stacks that have accumulated around my desk area, and was left with a pile of bookmarks, very much like yours. I gathered them up and stuck them in my pencil container. I NEVER dogear.
ReplyDeleteI cut up Xmas cards to use as bookmarks. They're both pretty, and they save resources, just a teensy tiny bit, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI really have trouble believing that everyone is going to go to reading books off a backlit screen now. I really just can't even imagine such a thing. To me, they are nothing more than a necessary evil to be tolerated only when they are necessary.
Lovely post..! Old is always gold..! Thats what i feel personally.
ReplyDelete