Governments
in the west, especially in the U.S., are cutting local budgets so
severely that community libraries are the first to shut down. Not
only that, it has been reported recently that one community library
was seriously criticized for literally throwing away 250,000 books a
month to pave way for new inventory.
A
nation is no longer great when this sort of thing happens. Education
does not stop the day you finish formal schooling.
They even say
that knowledge via formal schooling has its own Moore's law and it
becomes dated and often obsolete every 6 years. Having good libraries won't make
that happen. Keeping
and sustaining a good library, whether by physical book collections or
electronic data storage facilities is a sacred trust for the powers-that-be. Or for anyone capable of helping out. We need libraries for people to live and survive with dreams. A library is a like a church where anyone can indulge in the enjoyment of reading. Where they can find information and learn for free. Knowing better by reading at a library. Also having the chance to share ideas with other good people too.
Will
You Survive without a Library?
In
the former Soviet Union, as reported in a Time magazine feature in
the 90s, an enterprising couple, who bought tons of used books and
library discards in the west for resale in Russia, got a tremendous
response from citizens starved for knowledge and new ideas. One old
woman who was browsing their store. actually wept when she asked if
she could buy a book and was told she could pick any title she
wanted. All knowledge in that former nation was built on a house of
lies and dogma, so be wary if anyone or anything starts to resemble
abomination.
For any reader hungry for innovation and freedom, a worn-out idea
isn't worn out to them, because it might be something that can make
things better. Libraries, collections of books made available to the public for reading keep a reading people aware and knowing.
Libraries allow the disenfranchised to gain back freedom by finding opportunities. Like for those unable to have online access, they can go online for free on public computers in the library. And search for jobs anywhere, locally or overseas for a better chance at life. Reading
gives the lay person an equal chance in life: to improve his
learning and make a change as much as someone who can afford a formal
education.
People
who read learn how to make things better. For those
inspired by reading, they begin to learn that situations don't need
to be what they are and they can change things and make them really good. From
a gamefowl breeder looking to learn about animal genetics, to a child
figuring our how to do something for himself. Make it different and
smarter via using knowledge that can be found in books in a library.
The
Magic of Libraries
Neil
Gaiman, a fan-favorite writer of comic books and prose stylist dark fiction
author has a speech published in The Guardian about why libraries matter:
"Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming." It has some of the best arguments for anyone who can understand that books and libraries keep communities intact and fluorishing.
Reading make-believe stories hooks anyone into a reading habit. You read
a book, like the story, then look for more good reading. In the
process, you learn in the way old teachers taught younger folk,
through story. Everything else in learning and education builds on
that simple technology of any library.
Not all people love reading, but for those who do, they have a better chance of enjoying life more fully. People who do not love reading have a more finite existence than those who do. Reading advocacies help get kids from 11-24
year olds to enjoy reading. Research shows that for 16 year olds,
reading for pleasure has been proven to enable kids to secure better
jobs. Outdated skills can be improved via reading and getting free
knowledge in a library.
> A private library room in a home designed by Gianni Botsford, in Cahuita, Costa Rica
From Neil Gaiman's speech:
"I was in China in 2007, at the first party-approved science fiction and fantasy
convention in Chinese history. And at one point I took a top official
aside and asked him Why? SF had been disapproved of for a long time.
What had changed?
It's simple, he told me. The Chinese were
brilliant at making things if other people brought them the plans. But
they did not innovate and they did not invent. They did not imagine. So
they sent a delegation to the US, to Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and
they asked the people there who were inventing the future about
themselves. And they found that all of them had read science fiction
when they were boys or girls."
The
library is a sacred place for us to keep alive for the sake of our
own survival. Support one. Buy the best library discard books you can find as libraries keep books in the best condition even when they are taken out of circulation.
Then keep and build a personal library with the best books you can manage to hunt down.
