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iWish: Airport Public Library

   August 21st, 2007

Airplanes on runway at CLEI flew to Ohio this weekend to spend time with my family. I brought a book to read on the plane, but my mom asked if I could leave it with her so she could read it.

This leaves me with no book for the return back, which got me thinking. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a library for airports? I could go into the CLE branch and check out a book, read it on the plane, and then return it to the MHT branch when I landed.

I know the logistics would be difficult, and this is certainly an idea that could not sustain itself today, but I still think it would be nice.

Of course, I could always just buy a book - or better yet, find a BookCrossing in the terminal.




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3 Responses to “iWish: Airport Public Library”

  1. jessamyn Says:

    I have always wanted this idea in airports. The reason they don’t exist, of course, is that thay’d take money away room the merchants who buy space there to SELL us books and airports are private spaces as much as we get stuck there as if we were the public.

  2. Antof9 Says:

    Saw your post in my google alerts, and had to write in. And then I almost started swearing because you made me do math to post!

    Anyway, I agree with you — for years, I’ve thought there should be OBCZs (Official BookCrossing Zones) in airports — it would solve a multitude of problems — and in fact, I wrote about it once on the site, too. Seems as if some people think *booksellers* might not like the idea too much …

    Anyway, just wanted to say hi and I know what you mean. Now that I’m a BookCrosser, I travel with a lot of books I’m willing to wild release on the other end of my trip 🙂

  3. Brian Herzog Says:

    Stupid capitalism – always repressing me.

    I’ve never released a book myself, but I think I’ll start doing this whenever I travel. A little guerrilla librarianship might go a long way.

    And sorry about the math problem – I’ve had a lot of spam lately, and it really does help filter. But I’m open to better suggestions.