In July 2011, a typical English phone booth at Rushmoor Park in Oberursel opened its doors to become host to another public library.

Since it is open to the public, anybody can borrow a book or drop one off. You can sit down and read on the spot (there are some benches for your convenience) or take the book/books home.

There is no signing in or out – feel free to take what you need. Of course, you can also drop off your unwanted books there. At the moment, among many other books, you also find three math books and a French dictionary. The range of available books keeps growing.

BookCrossing members also use this spot for a convenient drop-off. I had a notification just this morning from a member, who has registered and released three books, such as Falsetto by Anne Rice, at the phone booth at Rushmoor Park.

Either way, this is a great way for people to read books and/or meet.

Note: You do not have to be a BookCrossing member to use this facility.

As a private teacher, I have a little library full of Dr. Seuss, Sesame Street, and Mister and Miss Books, among hundreds of others. I still read the old-fashioned way, because I am happy holding a paper book in my hand. My Landsmann Johannes Gutenberg would be pleased with me.

On the other hand, I need to be informed of what other means of reading devices are available today.

Fortunately, I found a very useful article, comparing all possible reading devices, such as the Amazon Kindle, the first – and second generation iPads, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, an iPhone, a Windows Phone, a phone using Google’s Android system, an Android tablet and a laptop computer, in last week’s edition of the New York Times.

Last, but not least, the author also used a regular paperback book to compare.

I am not ready yet to change my reading habits, but reading screens for everyone are on the visible horizon.

If you need any advice on what to purchase for your reading, then read Nick Bilton’s evaluation Deciding on a Book, and How to Read It.

At dinner time, my husband mentioned the opportunity to earn Creativity-Action-Service (CAS) points working at the international school’s library to our daughter Margo.

Every year, upper schoolers have to collect 20 points in each section and working at the library would supply her with enough points to cover her service requirement for the year.

She was not too enthusiastic about the idea, so we tried to persuade her a bit and I ended by telling her this personal story. If her father had not worked at a library in the U.S., her brother would not have been born in Japan.

My husband, then a college student, supplemented  our no-income status by working weekends at the college library. The year was 1990, and the recession would soon reach its peak.

As  a young wife, without a work permit yet, I was too bored to stay home on weekend nights and went to the library myself. Books are my best friends.

At the library, I met my very best Japanese friend, Nobuko. Through her, we learned more about Japan and its need for English teachers. She pointed out  an ad posted by the Japanese embassy in the library’s foyer, looking for teachers to join the Japanese Exchange Teaching (JET) program. With both of us intrigued by Nobuko’s tales about Japan, my husband applied and got accepted.

Off we went to Japan, specifically Kitakyushu on the most southern island of Kyushu in Japan, where we lived and worked for three years.

Hence,  her brother Thomas was born there.

Boshi techo - the Japanese maternity book

More about the boshi techo on Comprehensive Living Guide for Foreign Residents in Japan.

Anyway,  libraries are wonderful places of discovery for like-minded patrons, wonderful books, peace and quietness, making new friends, and straying off the beaten path.

The number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes.

Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784)

Büchersendung is a way of sending books cheaply through the post. It also covers maps and sheet music, but there are restrictions on what counts as a book and what you are allowed to pack with it.

You can include a bill, or a bank transfer form, or a return envelope – but not a letter.

Büchersendung may be cheaper, but you are not allowed to seal the envelope when sending inland. Only when sending overseas is this allowed, and even then you have to write on the envelope that it may be opened for the contents to be checked.

If you are sending books to addresses overseas, this will almost be definitely be cheaper than sending the books normally. If you want to send a card with the book, it may be worth sending them separately!

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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