WCC Lending Library Is Available

Hi Chess People!  

Really excited to tell you that due to some very gracious donations and the patience and work of Jim Nickell, the WCC has a lending library available for you to use.

We use LibraryThing to manage the collection.  You don't need to sign up for anything.  Just click that link and you should see the WCC Lending Library Collection on the library page.  I also put a permanent link to the Lending Library in the Links section on the blog.

We have just short of 150 books for you to use.  The process is simple.  

1. Browse the library and look for a book you'd like to read
• There's a search box in the top right corner
• I've tried to tag books as best I can (lmk if you think I've gotten something wrong)
• The tags I used are:
• tactics, openings, strategy, endgame, game collection, tournament, biography, history, instruction-beginner, instruction-general, instruction-advanced, checkers, novel
• There's some tradeoff between keeping the number of categories both descriptive and small - if you think there's something better, let me know
2. Comment here or send me an email at chess@demastri.com saying that you'd like to borrow a book.
3. We'll use our regular Wed meetings to deliver / return books.  I'll bring the book to the next meeting for you to pick it up.  If there's lots of volume or demand, I'll see about something more automated.
4. When you're done (we can start with a 28 day window to read the book), bring the book back and you're done!  Let me know if you want to keep the book longer.  

We have everything from openings, strategy, tactics, many game and tournament collections - even a checkers book and a novel!  (amazingly not Queen's Gambit, though...anyone want to donate their copy?)  Unfortunately, some are in descriptive notation, and a couple are in Russian or Polish (or some other crazy language...).  Ask if you have questions about anything.

If you want to read something not in the library, just let me know - I'll search my library and ask around...  the board might even buy a book here and there for something that might be generally useful (my thoughts, not the board's....)

Who reads books when everything's online?  Lots of people.  Not all of us are 100 years old.  Sometimes having a paper book allows you to focus a little more.  Sometimes it's just easier to organize your thoughts with a book next to a real board.  If you're under 20, try it!!  You might like it!

Some of the commentary (opening tracts, esp.) may be a little dated, but guess what?  Your opponent isn't likely playing 30 moves of the latest theory in the Benko (for example).  Reading Pal Benko's thoughts on the opening, even from his 1973 book, will likely give you a deeper understanding of the IDEAS behind the opening than a 2024/5 Chessbase dump of 2700+ GM games will.  Ideas rarely go out of style, and when you're out of book (lol - see what I did there) at move 4, they're all you really have left.  Give some of these a try!

And if you don't happen to read books anymore...think about donating the 4 shelves of books I know you have to WCC - I'll get them loaded and tagged for others to read.  A book on a shelf is fun to look at, but there's nothing more exciting than seeing a kid (well, anyone, but especially a kid) with that book in their hands actually reading.

Like all things - let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas about this.  See you Wed.

John D - WCC Librarian (I guess...?)

o/b/o Jim Nickell - WCC Librarian Emeritus (I'm certain)