After
yesterday I started having all these great library memories. I kind of do want
to just go over all the different libraries I have had cards for, and the books
I found there, but there is another point that I want to make that seems more
important right now. Maybe I will share library stories some other time.
One
thing I have realized is that for me a library has just been about a place to
get books, and that's huge. If I had to buy every book I wanted to read, it
would be impossible. If I switched to e-books, which I do not want to do, that
would solve the space problem, but it would leave the money problem. I love
libraries as sources of books, but that is not all they are.
I
started thinking about it recently after watching this short documentary:
There
are so many things here that I don't need, but it is wonderful that those needs
are being met. There is a sense of community. There is assistance. There are
new interests. I recently attended a gardening class at a library, and before
that I attended an Eagle Court of Honor.
What
I started thinking about after that video was how democratic libraries are:
knowledge and edification should be available to all.
I
was looking for the link again to share it, and I found a different one, in
progress, that looks like it will focus on the democratic aspects:
For
now we will just think about this quote:
"For
over 150 years the free public library has educated the poor, Americanized the
immigrant, inspired artists, and shaped our democracy."
That
is something worth preserving. It has become more meaningful to me after
reading this:
This
was one of the articles for my Social Issues through Comic Books MOOC, from
Module 3: Social Inequality. There are a lot of areas it could focus on, but
this one comes down to ability to learn to read. There are factors of
availability of materials and guidance, but even the obstruction of signs by
graffiti says something about how some areas get written off. When those
opportunities for development are lacking, do we care about that and want to
make up for that, or do we decide that it's just not our problem? It's their
fault right? Okay, maybe the little kids haven't done anything yet, but growing
up in those circumstances they will probably become part of the problem, so
that's all good right?
And
okay, we have had these issues in poor areas for a while, but then I start
thinking about how there were reading programs that specifically caused kids to
dislike reading, and educational programs that say they are about improving
education, but really seem to make things worse, and different things about how
the job market is looking, and it worries me. Well, sometimes it sickens me,
but it also worries.
It
doesn't have to be a conspiracy, but that doesn't mean it's a coincidence.
I'll
be coming back to this.
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