If  you live in Portland and are free during the day, please come to the Public Library Association's Annual Conference.  It has already started and will last until Friday. When books as physical entities may be vanishing, libraries are staunch reminders.   So are various writers, including a multitude of stories by Borges and The Library at Night, by Alberto Manguel.  These books remind me of aimless times in the stacks, unlikely discoveries (obscure books by DeFoe, for example).  And the special musty smell of books, which could even be the aroma of words themselves.