Books are Heavy

I once misremembered the title of the L7 album Bricks are Heavy as Books are Heavy. That's probably because I was in high school at the time and resented having to carry my books to and fro. I would try to finesse it and leave them in my school locker, occasionally; but if that meant I wasn't able to complete my homework, then it was a no go. In this age of e-readers, the heaviness of books seems like a bug rather than a feature, but I would argue that, in some cases, the opposite is true.

Books are heavy, like "he ain't heavy, he's my brother." Their physical heft belies their emotional heft. If a weighted blanket is supposed to help you sleep and provide comfort, then a similar case can be made for the weight of a paper volume on your lap.  Even a slim book can still pack an emotional wallop.

I've heard tell of students pushing Chaucer tomes around campus in push carts. Is it the actual weight of the book that matters, or how the person feels about it? The space a book occupies, for some people, represents different things: A tether to a physical space or room, a physical reminder to read it (or that one is not reading it), a stack declaring priority in a TBR (to be read) pile. Recently, there's been a publishing trend toward making books more unwieldy, like a black leather Joy of Cooking and more from Graphic Image.

A book is less insistent than a buzzing, vibrating smart phone, but it still tacitly makes its presence known. There is even an often-told myth of a college library sinking into the ground because the architect did not take into account the weight of the books.

Here are some tips for managing "heavy" books at the New York Public Library:

1. Before ordering a book in the catalog, look under "More Details," and then, under "Description" to see the size and page count of the item. Some books are even characterized as oversized. It's better to work out these details when ordering than when picking the item up at the branch.
    
2. If you've canceled an item due to its weight(!) or any other reason, bring it to the desk with your checkouts. We sometimes miss canceled holds, and this will help send them on to the next person waiting for them.
    
3. When pulling a heavy book off the shelf, try not to pull from the top of the spine as this may damage the book.

Whether the books you're interested in are heavy, or just deal with weighty topics, remember that librarians are ready to assist you in finding the appropriate size resources to accomplish your goals.