Libraries and democracy

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:

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/371084/why-libraries-matter/

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:

http://www.freeforalldocumentary.com/index.html

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:

http://nppsd.fesdev.org/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/525d81ba96ee9/SI%20-%20The%20American%20Dream%20-%20Slipping%20Away.pdf

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.