books, books, books

 Stacks

Thompson Library OSU Main

The picture was taken from the stairwell adjacent to the main stacks in Thompson Libarary at OSU.  This is a small slice of the real collection, a minor parcel of the astounding resource available here.  This is just a glimpse of over one million books in this library, a resource unimaginable less than 100 years ago, and one we take for granted today.  We are a rich nation, a land where we're able to take things like this for granted.  But we shouldn't; we ought to celebrate this incredible asset for what it is, a window into a myriad of strange, different, challenging, exotic, inspiring, stimulating, irritating, and yes, aggravating stories beyond the narrow confines of our own.  And here's the rest of the story: for every book you see here, there are a thousand thousand more, and more arriving all the time.  So go read something!