Ramadan in Boston Public Library
Ramadan started all over the US today (Saturday, Aug. 22). Al-hisabis had already declared that this is going to be the first day of Ramadan based on their calculations, fortunately, Al-hilalis also were able to see the moon and confirm al-hisabi's calculation and now all of us have started the fast same day. Let's see what happens for Eid.
Ramadan is also the month of Quran and the first word revealed is 'Iqra' or read. Therefore to celebrate the revelation of Quran and start of Ramadan, I made my way toward the Boston Public Library.
It is the first public library in the United States i.e. it is funded by the public money and all resources available to the public. It is impressive structure and beautifully decorated inside. They have a new wing that is modern looking and very spacious. It is supposed to contain over 6 million books and search through their catalog does give an idea of the scope.
I selected five books for picking up the copies but unfortunately could find only one of them on the shelf. It seems lot of books are misplaced and library staff told me that if it is not there it is impossible to find because there is large amount of material that they have to go through. Possibley, they are short-staffed and this partly explain the missing books.
But this brings me to another point - the dewey decimal system DOES NOT WORK. We need to replace this antiquated system with a barcoding system so that a book can be on any shelf but it can be scanned and I will know the shelf it is on and then I have to just go throgh about 25 books to find my book. Missing books will become a thing of the past.
I know the library system is based on categories but in this day and age when one book can belong to many categories and new categories are created on a regular basis, I don't see much point in it and a system based on barcoded books will serve the readers best.
The book I found is:
Pilgrimage to Mecca: The Indian Experience 1500-1800 written by Michael N. Pearson
Ramadan is also the month of Quran and the first word revealed is 'Iqra' or read. Therefore to celebrate the revelation of Quran and start of Ramadan, I made my way toward the Boston Public Library.
It is the first public library in the United States i.e. it is funded by the public money and all resources available to the public. It is impressive structure and beautifully decorated inside. They have a new wing that is modern looking and very spacious. It is supposed to contain over 6 million books and search through their catalog does give an idea of the scope.
I selected five books for picking up the copies but unfortunately could find only one of them on the shelf. It seems lot of books are misplaced and library staff told me that if it is not there it is impossible to find because there is large amount of material that they have to go through. Possibley, they are short-staffed and this partly explain the missing books.
But this brings me to another point - the dewey decimal system DOES NOT WORK. We need to replace this antiquated system with a barcoding system so that a book can be on any shelf but it can be scanned and I will know the shelf it is on and then I have to just go throgh about 25 books to find my book. Missing books will become a thing of the past.
I know the library system is based on categories but in this day and age when one book can belong to many categories and new categories are created on a regular basis, I don't see much point in it and a system based on barcoded books will serve the readers best.
The book I found is:
Pilgrimage to Mecca: The Indian Experience 1500-1800 written by Michael N. Pearson
Comments
have a good read :)