Burke: Libraries open the door to literacy and democracy
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, February 15, 2023
By Tom Burke / Herald columnist
Growing up I read everything I could get my paws on. Newspapers, magazines, the church newsletter, smuggled-in Playboys (for the articles, of course, I wanted to be “sophisticated”), “Boy’s Life” (the Scouting monthly), and the back of cereal boxes if there was nothing else available.
In school I read “Dick and Jane,” moved up to “Beezus and Ramona,” and by fifth grade I was reading stuff off the school library’s “Teachers” shelves, such as Thor Heyerdahl’s “Aku-Aku,” (learning about Easter Island’s ”moai” monoliths; the giant statues who the islanders said “walked” from the quarry to their resting place); plus everything published by the American Heritage Foundation, especially about the American Revolution and Civil War; and I exhausted the library’s inventory of books about ships and the sea.
And I probably read all 122 volumes of the “Landmark” series, in which notable authors, wrote or re-wrote for early teen readers, a ton of American history.
Now, way back in high school and college libraries were the only place to do research for essays, papers and whatever else needed more data than the family Encyclopedia Britannica offered. And I spent a modest amount of time in many.
But after college and with work and a growing family my library time fell off the table. Once in a while, perhaps, but not very often.
And while my back was turned, libraries changed.
Blame it on the internet offering everything about everything in a few clicks. And e-readers attempting to replace books in print. (For me, however, the experience of reading just wasn’t as satisfying with a tablet as it is between the boards of a print book.)
So, did tech kill libraries?
Not in the least. It changed them. And now, wow!
“My” library, Sno-Isle, has books, of course. Lots of them. But it has so much more. Like more than 1,643 separate events every year. Like kid’s story hours, live and online for babies, toddlers, families, and even in Russian. And Zoom book clubs, a youth book café, and a “Brains & Brews” Pub Trivia night at a local saloon. And I can even borrow a Washington State Parks Discovery Pass for a week.
And you don’t even have to visit any of the library’s 23(!) branches to get a book. There’s the Bookmobile (184 stops per month) plus the “Mobile Service” where librarians wheel in a couple of carts of books to a location and, more importantly, take requests for specific reads.
Now libraries aren’t free. You and I pay for them via our property tax. But it ain’t a lot. Less than $150 a year for me (or about the cost of a half-dozen Amazon books). And if you’re not using the services you’re paying for, well shame on you.
And one other thing: libraries are a refuge; a place of quiet and solitude (if you want it); and a place where one is likely to be overwhelmed by choice.
Wanna just sit and read? There’s chairs and tables and quiet corners.
Wanna just sit and read about the designs of architect Frank Lloyd Wright? No problem. Or learn how to cook indigenous American food? Got it. Or sea kayaking around Tasmania? Doable without even getting damp.
So why, gentle reader, am I forsaking my usual political discourse — such as decrying book “burning” and DeSantis-style censorship — and touting the library?
Well, it’s part of my (deep state?) plot to overcome ignorance.
I read some shocking numbers the other day. Frightening stats.
• Nationwide, on average, for the current year, 21 percent of adults in the U.S. are illiterate;
• 54 percent of adults have a literacy level a sixth-grade level; and
• Medical information for the public is typically written at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level, according to the American Medical Association.
And what frightens me is those people, who can’t read any better than a sixth grader, vote. They vote! And they decide who goes to Congress and state and local governments; and vote about budgets; about who can own and carry firearms; about how much aid to send to Ukraine; and whether it’s safe to get the covid vaccine. (It is).
So part of my insidious (left wing?) plot to safeguard our democracy is to get more people to use the library’s services and, by extension, read more; and read better. If we can get more people reading, more parents reading to kids, and more kids reading and not staring at gamer screens, America will be stronger.
One final note: I don’t care what folks read. Whether it’s a bodice-ripper by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss; “2,000 Mules” by Dinesh D’Souza; Bob Woodwards’s “Rage,” or “Peril,” or “Fear;” a P.D. James mystery, or “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss, as long as they’re reading.
Learning about the world on television, or about the news on social media, just doesn’t cut it for me. Sure there are great documentaries on the tube (PBS’s “Country Music” and “National Parks: America’s Best Idea” by Ken Burns for example) but there is just so much more between the covers of the more than 275,000 books published in the U.S. each year.
So, folks, get a library card. Check out some books. And read. Because as Dr. Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
You won’t be sorry, Sam I am.
Slava Ukraini.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
