Borders on Brink of Liquidation
This news makes me sad for obvious reasons, but I have to get this out. Borders is where I learned how to be an adult. Where I learned what it really meant to do a job well, rather than just how to get by. It was where I learned to be responsible for myself and how to lead a team. It’s where I cemented my belief in the importance of a joyful workplace. I’m not saying the corporation taught me this, it was and is a corporation like any other, but my store and my team were exceptional.
If this happens, and it inevitably will, thousands of talented booksellers will never work in the business again. Countless towns will lose another (or their only) bookstore. So many new authors won’t get the boost up of a handselling bookseller who loved their ARC. I’m starting to understand how Obi-wan felt when he said ”It’s as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly slienced.” Booksources closing, be they big box, indie or library, is bad news for everyone.
Support the literary arts every chance you get. Start by buying a book for a kid, any kid - even one you don’t know. It could change a life. I learned to love books so much as a kid that when I grew up, I wanted to be a bookseller. My life has been infinitely richer because of that. To those of you still in the field, I commend you for your backbreaking work and passion and wish you all the luck in the world. Please do not ever hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you. I may not be in the stacks every day anymore, but they’ll never leave me. Hopefully someday I’ll get to come home.
Emphasis mine.
I came across this again the other day and am reblogging it now, almost a year and a half later, because the emphasis still bears repeating.
Source: laughterkey
The blog formerly known as Minty Fresh 2.0. Thoughts, quotes and tidbits that I find while traipsing about the intertubes. I tend to treat this as my internet scrapbook, so there's no telling what might show up. If you're new here, welcome! Make yourself at home, the bourbon's over there.
