THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9409240008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: George Hebert
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
A library is a great place and a real joy. So is a bookstore. Not so great, however, and not such a joy is the location of maybe a third of what we go to libraries and bookstores for.
I'm talking about the books they put on the lower shelves. Anything, say, below adult waist level.
Whether you're browsing or looking for something in particular, seeing is a must. And seeing the titles on book spines can be an eye- or body-torturing challenge when they're arrayed down below, out of normal stand-up viewing range.
You can bend over, sure, but the curling and twisting can be a pain, figuratively and/or literally. In the hinged posture, too, you discover that your eye lenses have to perform strenuous feats to bring the words on the books into focus. For things on the very bottom shelf, it's often hopeless. And if you wear bifocals or trifocals, what you may see is an upside-down slice of chaos almost every time.
Another way to tackle the problem is the crouch. But this can't be comfortable for any grown-up, and the older you get, the slimmer the prospects seem for getting out of the crouch position at all, much less rising and moving to another spot and another crouch to continue your looking.
If there is carpeting - but only then - getting right down on your knees may be the most forthright way to canvass the low-placed volumes; it's not unheard of to get down on all fours. But isn't such indignity really too much to ask of a patron? I would think so, but in virtually all the libraries and bookshops I visit, this or some other awkward accommodation to bottom-shelving is an outright command, albeit without words.
I know of some places, granted, where there are little stools, some that will roll along with you as you search the nether regions. But I have run across nothing that would be the considerate equivalent of the ladders and personal assistance available where books are stacked out of normal reach in the other direction - upward.
Which brings us around to possible remedies. Unfortunately, some of these, like a succession of trap doors to drop the browser down to comfortable eye level at the push of a button, can probably be dismissed out of hand. But how about a continuous-belt rig to roll consecutive shelves of books up to easy range, as with some mechanical filing systems? Too expensive? Or why not fill in the lower space all around a book establishment with paneling or some ornamentation? Too costly in terms of lost space? Maybe a piece of personal equipment for each patron would help: one of those cardboard periscopes people use to see parades, etc., when they're in a crowd. The idea would be to look under shelves instead of over heads.
Or there's this: Rearrange the whole system of book placement, putting books for adults on the upper shelves, and books for those who are young - and shorter - on the bottom racks.
Come to think of it, maybe there just isn't any good answer to the low-down book trick. MEMO: Mr. Hebert is a former editor of The Ledger-Star.
by CNB