Books and the Library

 What is more important in a library than anything else---than everything else---is the fact that it exists.  Archibald MacLeish

 The lover of books is a miner, searching for gold all her life long.             Katherine Peterson  

Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for five thousand years, the right to learn is undoubted the most fundamental.             W.E.B. DuBois

Our little library is under attack. Although we are drastically short of space and room to grow there are those in our community that want to stop and inhibit this little library. We currently have a levy that could fix that problem and give this community a bigger library that we desperately need.

Predictably the people against the levy rarely to never enter the library and really haven't a clue as to how valuable this library is to most of our community.  Sadly they have lied about how much money we need to build the new, library which is truthfully 12 million dollars, because we have grants and generous donors. It's only going to become vastly more expensive in the future. We need to act now.

Libraries have been under attack on and off throughout history. In the past, and now sadly in the present, thousand of books have been banned in various countries all around the world. There is a physical and graphic example of this below, in front of the world's oldest public museum in Kassel, Germany.  On this spot in 1933 some two thousand books were burned during the Nazi's nationwide campaign against the "Un-German Spirit". Why is this hauntingly familiar? Here we are over almost ninety years in the future with people in many countries suggesting the same thing. The conceptual artist, Marta Minujin's sculpture  was first created in her native land of Argentina in 1983 where titles were being forbidden by the military dictatorship. Then, Marta did it again with more books in Germany 2017. 

The Parthenon of Books, made from 100,000 banned books, a conceptual piece opened in 2017  Kassel, Germany

You also might be asking yourself as I did myself, "what are they so afraid of that they would even think to attack an inanimate object?" Books don't bite, they don't rob you or even poison you, unless you consider an open mind poisonous.  BTW I consider some books written to be full of lies and depressingly stupid but I defend your right to read them. 

In a way I believe this is unspeakably sad, here are people all around the world worried about books they consider dangerous, whereas they have no such consternation about losing democracy and freedom of speech.  The word freedom currently has been usurped to mean 'anything that I do or believe should have no consequences'. They want the right to infect their neighbor or their family by not wearing a mask or getting vaccinated yet have no problem swiping a woman's right to privacy with her doctor. But then I realize some consider women and people of color fairly scary.  

I cherish books.  Books are my 'go to' for comfort, understanding and relaxation. I'm always on the look out for another great book. I have spent many, many happy hours wandering through our local library. I love and depend on this little building for supplying me with the ability to travel to other worlds, to meet characters both real and fictitious, to expand my definition of what's human, to increase my knowledge and to learn about many different subjects about which I have very little information. A treasure trove of learning awaits all who enter. Yes, I admit, it's a dependency but one I count on as being a rich essential for my life and growth as a member of the human race.

This was brought home to me because of the pandemic. We were without our library for several months last year. With a great deal of understanding and kindness the librarians gave all of us a heads up because they, for safety's sake, were going to close for an indefinite period of time in March of 2020. They made an announcement to the community so all of us would have a couple of days prior to the dark shuttering, to gather as many books, magazines and videos as we desired. It was absolutely laughable. The crowd of excited but dazed patrons rushed into the library to take out literally dozens of books and DVD's a piece. The terror of having nothing to read was upon all of us! That's when I realized how important the library, a favorite spot in our town, was in my life.  

Mom

 

I don't know what I'd do without books.                                                            Jane Ricketts

Sure, I have lots of books and truly could spend several years reading  the books I have on my shelves, but there's nothing like picking up a brand new best seller and diving into it.  Like most of the people who are bibliophiles I read the book section of newspapers, eager for a good review of a new author I've never heard of. What a pleasure to read book from vastly different points of view or a book about different cultures or walks of life. Despite Covid-19 I walked through many different countries, cultures, and even restaurants with the book's author leading the way.

To pay back some of my gratitude I'm volunteering at our local library and I feel so fortunate to be doing so. While tending to the books, the DVD's, graphic books, etc. on the shelves I've gained a knowledge of just what a huge collection we have in our small town. You might think about wandering around your own library for the sheer pleasure of being around the books and possibly [probably] finding some treasure you didn't realize was there.  For example, our DVD section of the library is rich with movies and series both old and new. This collection is vast and rich. Any treasured movie from the past 40 years is probably found in our shelves.

Then there are the librarians. These librarians are helpful, knowledgeable, generous and gracious. Yet these marvelous professionals are being attacked by screaming parents and furious people who probably have not even read the books that they're screaming about.  Texas has a bounty on women who are seeking an abortion, and are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can stop a woman from seeking an abortion. The Supreme court sided with this misogynistic decision. Next up in the idiocy race, Oklahoma has proposed a $10,000 punishment per day to any school library that has their list of banned books on their shelves. 

Where does this insanity end? It takes a nation to come together and stick up for the right to read. I grew up Catholic and at that time so many years ago the Church had lists of books [Index Librorum Prohibitorum] basically banning books. The practice ended in 1966 but though it never effected me,  it made and impression. Let's vote for sanity and the right to read and be educated.

PS  If you've read a great book I want to know it's title...

susansmagicfeather  2022 Susan R. Grout