by Pam Everhardt Bloom Rowan Public Library
Libraries are all about choice –
your choices. Your library card is an important commodity and it’s free. It’s
so important that the American Library Association designates September as
Library Card Sign-up Month. When’s the last time you used your card at the
library? If it’s been a while you might even ask why you would want to visit an
institution originating in the 3rd century BCE? A public service
announcement celebrating this special month sums up several reasons to use your library card with this
observation: “Today’s libraries are more about doing than borrowing – more
about connecting than simply plugging in. Whether you want to get involved in
your community, find a job, start a business, or simply get ahead, your library
card is the key to opportunity. Libraries are transforming.” Transforming; what
an interesting concept to contemplate. Each week this column is dedicated to keeping
the public informed about library activities, current selections and other
interesting tidbits of information. If you’re a regular reader you’ve learned
that your library card offers far more than just checking out a book. This week
the staff at Rowan Public Library would like to challenge you to help transform
our community by encouraging others to join the library and get their free card.
If you’re overdue for a visit, September is a perfect month for reacquainting
yourself with your public library.
Explore the library with a sense of adventure. Always
run in for the latest bestseller? Take a stroll to the other end of the library
and check out one of the ever changing displays. Enjoy story time with the
kids? Spread the joy and bring the grandparents and the rest of the family for
an evening of family programs. Do you sequester yourself in the History Room
with hours of research? Stop by the Friends’ Book Sale on the second floor for
a look. Ask a reference librarian about NC Live or chat with staff about the
joys of a pin number plus library card and the multitude of online
opportunities it presents. If you’re a fiction reader, venture into the
non-fiction stacks for a new narrative non-fiction book or a compelling memoir.
Check out a book on CD or take the
plunge and learn how to download all the possibilities from NC Digital. With
on-line availability, your library is ALWAYS open. Novelist Saul Bellows,
winner of both the Pulitzer and Nobel awards, said it well, “People can lose
their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.”
So lose yourself
within these doors. Travel to a branch you’ve never visited – join a book club
at South, stop in at East for a visit with a local artist or enjoy Headquarter’s
Fall Concert Series. They’re all free
and so is the wealth of information your library card unlocks. In this month of Library Card Sign-up, the
American Library Association describes a library card as the most essential
school supply of all. E.B. White, beloved author of the classic Charlotte’s
Web, wrote, “A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there,
in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to
go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have
your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times,
for books are people - people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between
the covers of a book." White wrote this excerpt in a letter to the
children of Troy, Michigan on the opening of their new public library in 1971. So
grab your child, a friend, your neighbor and make September your month for a
library card.
P.S. I can’t end
this article without a book plug. Frederick Backman’s “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry” is absolutely
amazing. Visit your library and find out why. Get ready for the transformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment