Better Late Than Never

As librarians, we are conditioned to promote everything new. New programs, new databases, new technology, new this, new that. In the world of libraries, “NEW BOOKS” is the granddaddy of all library promotions. You can go into almost any library in the country and immediately find a section – right up front – that showcases that library’s most recently purchased books.

Often, this promotion of all things new comes from our professional zeal to let you all know that we love what we do and that we are on the ball when it comes to having the latest information, the latest technology or the latest bestseller. Another reason we promote new is that many patrons only want the “new stuff” and we want to make it easy for them to find the new stuff.

Over the years, I have found myself wondering if we do our patrons a disservice by segregating our new materials from the rest of our collection. Here’s why: I find more books – more readable books – books that have changed my life – when I take time to casually browse library shelves. For some reason, I like books that have “a few years on ‘em.” Some of my most favorite books are ones that I missed when they were new, but found later, while browsing library shelves.

I am now in the process of reading – for the fourth time – Nina's Journey: a Memoir of Stalin's Russia and the Second World War. I first read this book twenty years ago, when I ran across it while browsing the shelves of a library. The story is as fresh today as it was when I read it those many years ago. Even though I know what’s coming, I find myself unprepared for Nina’s story of brutality, poverty, hunger, cold, torture, bombings, loving sacrifice and political sellouts. I am once again amazed in the human capacity to experience and survive horrific conditions, horrible people, hopeless situations and numbing heartbreak. Nina does it all, and she manages to find bits of humor and joy along the way.

This book remains one of my absolute favorites. Unfortunately, if you are one of those people who only checks out the new stuff, you’ll never have an opportunity to read it.