Back to Basics

Some may describe it as stuffy and obsolete, but I think of a library as a captivating window to the future as well as the past and present. I cannot imagine life without; I fear that I soon may have to.

When I was a teenage student, my mom would take me to the library to keep my brain alive during the summer break. As a young adult, my local library gave me access to knowledge and entertainment .... access that I could not afford otherwise. Today, I consider the library a source of truth, far more credible than the hodgepodge of Internet websites that intertwine fact with myth, marketing, and hearsay.

A Child at the Library

I have fond memories as a child when Mom would take me to the Northampton Public Library. I loved the smell. I loved the way voices sounded in a whisper. I was fascinated by the quantity of book spines, lined up like soldiers on a shelf.

At the library, I was allowed to go off on my own to the section where I could understand the words. There I could select three books. I don't remember the stories – I probably didn't read them all -- but I do remember the crinkling sound of the plastic covers as I crept open the books to peak inside.

My brother would go with us too, and thankfully he liked a different section. It was one place we could go without bickering ... we were both too busy getting lost in a world of books.

After our selections were made and I found my mom, we would line up at the counter by the door. I would wonder about the thickness of the books Mom had chosen. How could she read all that in just two weeks? One-by-one we would slide our pile across the smooth wooden surface to the librarian. With little effort, she would flip over the books, crack open a back cover, pull out a card, and slip it into a machine that would stamp a date onto it with a sound so loud everyone in the place knew someone was checking out.

When my turn was up, she would smile as she took my pile. One. Two. Three. I loved the sound of that stamp machine. Then, with the dated cards securely tucked back into their pockets, she pushed the pile back to me ... mine for two whole weeks.

I did other things at the library too. I participated in art programs where I glued macaroni or beans to paper to make a picture. Sometimes the librarian would read a book out loud as if to turn it into a radio show. It was a place that was fun without the pomp and pageantry.

And I felt like just being there could make me smarter. Reading required focus and patience my young mind just didn't have. I wanted to run outside and make my own experiences, not read about accounts from others in a book. But the books gave me something to do when it rained, when it was dark, or when I was sick. And because they were there, I read them. It made me feel grown up to sit and read, just like my mom.

A Window to the Future

Northampton's library was downhill from its junior and senior high schools. As I got older, I became aware that the library was a place where I -- not the teacher -- could decide the subject.

Later in life, I sat in the passenger seat as my older sister dropped her own stack of thick books into the slot at her local Palmerton library. After I moved away, I would visit the Upper Merion Library where I would read the community announcements and say hello to my neighbors before getting lost among the books. As an adult writer, I depend on the library for its reference material, periodicals, online databases, and more. Through every phase of my life, the library has been there.

Hope for Our Libraries' Survival

I'll admit, there were times when I forgot about my library, too. When life got hectic. When the Internet became available in my home. When I spent my days working in a secure but draining job and was too tired to read at the end of the day.

Others have forgotten too, and now our libraries are in trouble. In Philadelphia, the mayor closed libraries to balance the budget. My local Upper Perkiomen Valley Library seems to be shrinking before my very eyes.

Nearby, the Indian Valley Public Library just made this announcement:

"Souderton Area School District has decided to cut its library appropriation in half -- from $440,000 to $220,000 in 2012. And, it will be eliminated altogether in 2013. For over 25 years, the library worked with the school district by providing resources and services for students (and all residents) during after school hours, evenings, Saturdays, Sundays. Lifelong learning, as provided by the vast resources of the library, was a cherished goal. This news from the school district comes after two straight years of cuts in state aid for public libraries."

Meanwhile, residents are fleeing the Souderton school district due to the taxes that have resulted from building a brand new school...one that seems to overreach the need. School officials have redirected taxpayer money toward a place that will serve kids for a few high-school years and away from one that would serve them all life long.

In Philadelphia, I heard firsthand from one mother who depended on the library -- one closed by the mayor -- to keep her son focused, entertained, and inspired. She said she was not alone. It was a busy place.

To say that today's library has become obsolete is to admit you've lost touch. It means you've forgotten that there is a way to read voraciously -- or even occasionally -- without having to break out the credit card. It means that you've forgotten there is a place to go where you can ask a human being a question and get honest-to-goodness advice on where to find the answer. It means you've forgotten that not everyone can afford to maintain a fully functioning computer at home. And it means that, with all the world's problems, you've forgotten there is no better armor than knowledge.

This jailhouse library in Jim Thorpe, PA offered refuge and reform to men and women who needed it.

We can tout the virtues of educating every child, but the fancy technology and marble hallways in our brand new schools are for kings. Libraries are for everyone. Visit, use, support, donate, and speak out in favor of your local library. The stamp machine I loved so much may have grown obsolete, but a place where knowledge is shared with everyone never will.