Our Libraries Must Remain Public - and Open
The public library is at the heart of our democracy
When did you first realize that public libraries are wonderful?
When I was in grade school I lived in Somerset, PA. The children’s room of the public library was in the basement with it’s own entrance, and my family went there all the time.
Somehow when I was about eleven I found myself upstairs alone in the grownup reading room. In my memory I’m standing there enchanted. And no librarian is saying, “No.”
I think it’s this “yes” that is at the heart of public libraries. Never mind the stereotype of the glaring librarian who guards the stacks from curious humans. When I was a librarian I don’t think I ever glared. But, only once, I did make the mistake of looking up at the patron as I checked out a book on baldness!
Back to the subject —
It’s a short walk from the Library Book Sale where you take home books for a few dollars, to the Library itself where you take home books for free.
The first American tax-supported free public library opened in 1833 in Peterborough, NH. Every family in town received a catalog of the entire collection.
Now in 2022, at this tense moment in our nation’s history and in between mid-term Election tasks, Sam and I have made lots of trips to our county library.
One of the books we shared this week is The Public Library, a Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson. After looking through it, now I know why the library has become so important in our lives. It’s at the heart of our democracy.
Income, race, age, gender, employment, access to internet, level of education, none of this matters at the library door. Our taxes help keep our community healthy.
Like our communities, American public libraries are all sizes.
The photos above: Around 1900 a former slave from Kentucky who had become a chaplain in the US Army founded the Tulare County Free Library in Allensworth, CA. Its one room measured 364 square feet.
In contrast, the vast 3rd floor reading room of the New York Public Library is 297 ft long, 78 ft wide, and 51 ft tall with no interior columns. It has 15 massive windows.
A public library can be in a fine old house …
… or it can be in a trailer.
Public libraries offer services to members of the community, without fees or questions of need. They just do.
At some libraries, artworks are in the background, …
… some artworks are at the library’s entrance …
… and others are the building itself.
[The John Fisher mural above] depicts the horrors of the slave trade and celebrates African American culture. Black citizens in East Austin had strongly advocated for a library in their community, and this was the first branch library to serve them.
The library below is in a poor Hispanic community in California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley. It is small, but it is there.
Imagine checking out garden seeds … or tools!
Our library book, The Public Library, was published eight years ago. It makes clear to me what some of our leaders still have to recognize: the vital connection between healthy communities and their institutions, such as our public libraries — and our public schools.
Just today I read Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s words in Time magazine:
From the time I was a very young child, I was aware of suffering, and I think that influenced the way I thought about sickness. I began to think that sickness is not something that’s treated just by a doctor or team of doctors, but by a community that surrounds a person. For me to want to relieve your pain or your distress … is something both human and quite beautiful.
I believe our great task is to change the cultural attitude about the value of human well-being. And then the healing of our planet Earth will follow.
What does your public library mean to you?
Agree with every word. And great photos!
Always love to see positive library photos and comments. I was a public school librarian, K-12, and also worked at the Syracuse University Library and volunteer at our public library. 👍 👏🏻 👏🏻