Due to a bit of miscommunication, I wound up having some time during yesterday’s lunch break. (The miscommunication was a story in itself – I was using an old version of a church’s website and wound up being the only person there for an Ash Wednesday service that had taken place a year ago. The office manager and pastor were quite kind and I wound up feeling like European royalty, having ashes imposed in a large, airy sanctuary with just little ol’ me in attendance.) I had gotten a reminder that I needed to have my library card renewed, so I drove over the to main branch and had that taken care of and still had time for some serious browsing at both the Friends of the Library shelves and the entire HOUSE devoted to selling used books.
So let me sing the praises of public libraries for a moment.
I love libraries. No shock there; I had my first library card before I could read. And now, I have cards for my local library, the library in the town where I work, AND the town where I grew up.
These are magnificent places – and one of the ONLY places in our society where you can just be. You don’t have to buy anything, say anything, or do anything in order to hang out there. You can read all day. There’s heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer – and clean bathrooms. There’s internet and people to help you use it. You can research your family roots or join a book club. They provide meeting space for the community on a first-come, first-served basis. There may be a puzzle library. Or a seed library. Or baking pans to borrow. Seriously, public libraries are revolutionary and they deserve our support.
Every now and again, someone gets on their high horse about “objectionable books” that are on the shelves.
Good.
If NOTHING there is challenging, there’s no way it’s serving the ENTIRE community. I have seen many books in the library that I think are badly written, illustrate a point of view I despise, and/or bore me to tears. I simply swan on by with my stack of books to check out and go about my day.
Please – go to your local library this week and tell them “thanks.”
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