I am in Albany, New York today as part of Library Advocacy Day. Once again, libraries are the first on the chopping block and last to be restored come austerity time.
But choking off funding for libraries is like eating our “seed corn” –the thing that we need to grow and produce more.
As a writer, as a lover of books and reading, as a lover of learning, I know that the public library and school libraries in Mt. Vernon, New York where I grew up, shaped me. A trip to the public library was like a visit to a sacred shrine. We cannot afford to take that away.
So why, in a country that professes to value the importance of free education, free information, and free expression do we always look to destroy the best places to nurture those fundamental American necessities? Yes, Necessities. Public libraries, like schools or the fire department, are not luxuries. Politicians, who may have never darkened a library door, do not understand that basic fact of life. The public library is more than just our soul. It is our lifeblood too. And you can see that when you stop in any library where droves of people –more during the Great Recession — are not just checking out bestsellers, but clamoring for information, education, answers and direction.
What commodities, what resources, are more valuable? Libraries are a necessity not a luxury.
