Bikes and Zines, Plus!

Biking Resources at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh–Main

At  Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh we strive to provide information and resources that people want! Because Pittsburgh has such a large/strong bike community, the library makes sure to offer good bike-related resources to the cyclists of our fair town.

Zines

We have a number of bike-related resources in the zine collection in the First Floor–New and Featured Department. They’re shelved in a category with a divider that says–you guessed it–“BIKES.” The collection ranges from repair guides to bike trip journals to zines that deal with bikes and city infrastructure questions.

We list our zines in LibraryThing under the member name “clpzines.”  You can search the zine collection here by typing a keyword, zine title or author into the search box.  As of right now, fifty-seven of our 943 zines have a bike-related tag, such as “bike accidents,” “bike gear,” and “bike maps.” We also have Bike Pittsburgh‘s bike map and bike commuting guide.

Programming

We’re really excited to host the Bike Pittsburgh Bike Commuting Workshop on Thursday, August 18 from 6-7:30 p.m. at CLP—Main. Last year the library hosted a Bike Pittsburgh/Elly Blue and Joe Biel collaborative workshop where Elly and Joe spoke on the history and current situation of bike infrastructure in Portland, OR. We imagine doing more bike-related zine programs in the future, so please let us know in the comments section if you’d like to see this happen!

Books and Movies

We also have books–it’s true! If you look for the Library of Congress call numbers that begin with TL, located on the second floor as part of Reference Services‘ open stacks, you’ll find many bike repair manuals for both mountain and general road bikes. You’ll also find more specific info, such as a Schwinn Bicycle Service Manual from 1972, as part of the reference collection. For a more traditional, yet still bike-related, reading resource, try David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries. Do your kids have bikes? In the Children’s Department, under that same call number, you can find Kids’ Easy Bike Care. Next, visit the Film and Audio Department, where you will find a jillion great bike-related movies, including Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Bicycle Thieves, and Quicksilver.

If you haven’t been to the library to boost your bike love yet, it’s obvious that you need to get there.

–Jude

Being green is not for everyone; or why I love my car.

I have a confession to make. Well, it’s not really a confession per se, as it’s not a secret and I don’t feel guilty about it – but still, here goes:

My name is Amy, and I drive a car to work. Alone. Five days a week or more.

“Oh the horror!” you exclaim. “Surely in these days of global warming, economic crisis, and high gas prices, there must be something you can do!”

Well yes, I am doing a few things. My tires are properly inflated, I have taken all of the useless weight out of my car, and I tend to drive at the speed limit now (which is boring, but it does save gas). But all of those other enviromentally-trendy things? Here’s why they don’t work for me.

Hybrids: Sure, hybrids are neato. But I’ve finally paid off my non-gas-guzzling compact, and I really don’t want to be saddled with another car payment, not to mention the potential increase in my insurance. As long as my monthly gas bill is less than a new car payment, I’m not switching.

Walking: I live 15 miles away from this here library, so walking is right out. Though we do have more than one librarian here who walks to work most every day – and good for them, I say! Maybe offering them a ride now and then can be my way of atoning for my continued car ownership. Any takers?

Bicycling: Ah, the smug bicycle-riding public. Now don’t get me wrong, many of them are quite nice and I certainly don’t wish them any harm. But again, I must point out that “I live 15 miles away” thing – and that’s 15 miles straight and true on the parkway. There’s no way I’d survive bicycle + parkway, even if it were permitted. And I’m sure that the library would like me to reach work 1. alive, 2. presentable, and 3. vaguely on time. That’s not going to happen with a bicycle.

(Another thing that annoys me about bicycles – those who park in the same garage as I do sometimes complain about the bicycle facilities, and they don’t even pay for parking! Meanwhile, I lose a chunk of every paycheck for the privilege of parking where I work. So shove it, bicycle peeps.)

Carpools: Sharing a ride and saving money sounds like a great idea, but where am I going to find a carpool that will stick around until 6 or 8 PM to wait for me? The library has some odd hours, you know. And I doubt that I can find three other people willing to listen to my preferred books on CD.

Public transportation: Ah, the bus. Again, great if you live in the city, but not so great for those of us on the outer limits. In the city you can choose from any number of routes and stops, but out where I live, there is only. one. bus. that would take me anywhere useful – and I’d still have to drive ten minutes to the nearest bus stop.

(I used to take the bus now and then when I was an undergrad, until the fateful day when someone puked in the back. Imagine spending a 45-minute trip watching particolored chunks of vomit and soppy bile rolling up and down the grimy rubber floor mats of the bus as it climbs and descends the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania – all the while keeping your feet up on your seat and hoping that the driver doesn’t make any sudden turns or abrupt stops. Nearly poetic, eh? If that doesn’t put you off riding the bus, I’m not sure what will.)

Moving closer to work: Well, there’s the higher rent, the higher taxes, the higher cost of living, the higher insurance, and who knows what else. Heck, even gas is more expensive in the city, sometimes by as much as an extra ten cents per gallon! So sure, I could move closer, but I doubt I could afford it unless I defaulted on my student loans. I like my credit rating the way it is, thank you kindly.

And there you have it – why green transportation is not for me. So the next time you’re sitting in a bus sneering at the people in the cars beside you, stop and think – maybe this is the best they can do. As for me, I’ll turn up my stereo and relax, and I promise to look out for your bicycle.

-Amy

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go

Once the clocks changed last month, I suddenly realized that it was going to be time to go back to Two Wheels, Not Four on my daily commute.  Biking is my method of choice for getting to and from work every day, as long as the weather cooperates for me; and for a city as hilly as Pittsburgh, there are a heck of a lot of us out there with our helmets on and the breeze in our faces.  Bike Pittsburgh and Free Ride are just two advocacy organizations that can help you get on this carbon-footprint-free, healthy, economical bandwagon, by offering safe riding tips, a DIY repair shop with expert help, and low-cost bikes.

Of course, another alternative to car commuting is walking.  Did you know that Pittsburgh was ranked among the top 10 most walkable cities in the U.S.?  In my mind, that fact combines perfectly with our status in the top 10 most literate cities — walk and read at the same time!!  Use one of our eAudio services, or if you don’t have an mp3 player, borrow a playaway!  Gone are the days of an extra pound of equipment and multiple CDs per book, although if you really are stuck with the car commute, we have plenty of those, as well.  (It doesn’t particularly relate to commuting, but you can calculate your neighborhood’s walkability at walkscore.com.)

One more obvious choice in car-free commuting is public transportation, again with the distinct advantage of being able to get in some quality reading time.  But there are other options as well, which you can learn about at commuteinfo.org, a website for commuters and employers by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. 

So whether you cycle, hoof it, bus, carpool, or drive, just remember to watch out for each other and be safe!

-Kaarin