And librarians?
When a recent report showed that some Wisconsin fourth-graders are at the bottom of the reading charts, and then there came an accouncement for Milwaukee district cut-backs, why weren’t the cuts to libraries mentioned?
And thanks, Sis. Sharon, for the link.
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I love that poem!
I love libraries and librarians. Extravagantly. They are the last thing I would ever cut from a budget. As long as we have them, there is education free for all, and the bare possibility that civilization will triumph.
What you said.
“As long as we have them, there is education free for all, and the bare possibility that civilization will triumph.”
Amen.
To tell the truth, yet not wanting to go all “conspiracy theory”, sometimes I think that the fact that libraries are the temples of knowledge, and your library card is your passport into that world…well, in these times I think that really threatens some folks in power…or, maybe I’m just crazy…
Of course that’s one thing I’ve learned from some of the patrons of the library…sometimes,you can be crazy, & still be right.
That’s true. And it is unnerving to see such blatant disregard to everybody’s passport to the world.
The people who make the cuts probably can’t imagine not having books or computers at their disposal.
An article last week that I thought explained very well the value of a the kind of education for which one needs a library … and why many employers would be against this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/opinion/16davis.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all
A very good essay!
I appreciated reading it.
Thankee.
Very interesting piece. It would be great to have a follow-up on the graduate execs. Apparently Bell wasn’t pleased with their career trajectory, but I’d love to know more.
Cutting library funding, even to the point of closing them down, is “eating the seed corn,” and we’ll be paying for it for at least a generation. The value of school libraries should be obvious. The value of public libraries for continuing, life-long learning, should also be obvious. It was to Andrew Carnegie.
“I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing. They only help those who help themselves. They never pauperize. They reach the aspiring and open to these chief treasures of the world — those stored up in books. A taste for reading drives out lower tastes.”
Carnegie, by the way, didn’t believe in leaving all his money to his children.
“I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar. “
To which the son probably replied “gee…. thanks, Dad………..”
I have spent many a happy hour or ten in public libraries. We have a Carnegie library in a nearby town that I could just stare at for hours.
What a great and beautiful gift.
I do miss the cards, though. Flipping through them was like taking a trip through a wonderful world filled with magic.
“Card catalog”, along with “dial tone” and “record album”, will soon be one of those terms that makes youngsters shrug their shoulders in bewilderment.
[Hey DJ, does that have the makings of a post in it? You know, stuff that has become dinosaurs in our lifetime. Reminding us that we are all slowly becoming dinosaurs ...]
Makings of a “book,” maybe. More than a “post.”
Will we soon be saying, “Remember books?”
Trying to imagine the library of 2020.
And the writer biz.
Awesome. I knew I should have learned a decent trade.
It does. Lemme put some prayer into it.
I don’t know about Carnegie, but there is a HR Richardson public library in a MA town that has long been the butt of jokes. (It is probably best known as the site of the environmental pollution case depicted in the Travolta movie A Civil Action .)
It’s a real beauty:
http://www.realviews.com/homes/winn.html
Wow. That’s beautiful.
Beautiful!
Oooh, me, too. The Dewey Decimal System was kind of cool, once you figured it out.
Derby Neck is a Carnegie library, one of about 10 or 11 still standing in CT. Some have been “remodeled” and “modernized” beyond recognition, but Derby Neck started out elegant and stayed that way. An addition maintained the same style.
http://www.derbynecklibrary.org/images/DNL%20KG%20PHOTO.JPG
Both Norwalk and South Norwalk are Carnegies, but only the South Norwalk building retains the original look. I’ve already used my one link, so I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find pictures. They’re NOT on the library’s website–shame on them.
The library branch that was next to my elementary school was a beautiful small building (I just looked to see if it were Carnegie-endowed, but no) with excellent kind (but strict) librarians and incredible woodwork. It was such a treat and a thrill to be able to get my own card and start taking out books on my own. I’ve tried to see, on-line, if it’s still there, but only the main town library is mentioned. I’ll have to take a little trip to see for myself.
Webb City, Mo’s library is a Carnegie endowment. They used to have a huge honking oil portrait of him hanging in the lobby.
Found a nice photo of it at lib-web-cats
http://www.librarytechnology.org/lwc-displaylibrary.pl?RC=20352
I love the old classic libraries. You can just tell by looking that it’s a library or some other important public building. Ditto for schools and town halls. The concrete and glass boxes do nothing for me. I think it’s all part of the plot to destroy our public life. If our public buildings are ugly to the point of our hating them, then we’ll stop building them.