Daily Cascade

About the Local Library

Prompt:
On this day in 1731 Benjamin Franklin opened the first library
in the North American colonies, the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Are libraries important? What other services do the libraries in your area offer?

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Libraries were always very important to me. I visited our local library three to four times a week. Lately though, since I don't want to drive unless extremely necessary, and also, because there's a very long walk between the library's front door and the parking lot, I have avoided going there too often.

I used to be such a library buff in the much earlier days that two of the local libraries offered me a job. This was a few decades ago. I didn't take those jobs but I'm still grateful for the offers.

Those offers came as the result of making friends with the librarians and maybe mentioning that I used to work part time in our high-school's library when I was in my teens. In those teen days of mine, I knew the Dewey-decimal system really well and where anything was in that extensive library. Also, the students related better to me, knowing I was one of them.

Surely, now, those systems and huge catalogues are relics of the past, but the libraries still serve as pillars of the community and reader-friendly organizations. Nowadays, libraries offer free internet, printers, and help with accessing government services for those who need them, despite the fact that, for most of us, such services and access to e-books is just a click away.

Libraries also provide safe spaces for people of all ages, incomes, or backgrounds to take a break and sit at a cozy chair or desk and browse through a magazine of a book. They host community meetings, offer a quiet refuge for studying, reflection, or a moment of peace, and come up with programs for adult literacy, coding, and creative writing. They have tech support, too. Sometimes, a librarian will help a klutzy cell-phone or a similar device user by trouble-shooting what isn't working and offering valuable advice.

In our local library, summer reading, story times for tiny tots, and every now and then, a craft workshop is held. There is also a separate meeting room on the side of the building with a separate door, which can be rented at a low-cost for community or group meetings. Then, our local library is next to the junior high school and the students come into the library to do their homework while waiting for their parents to pick them up. This is because most parents are working until later in the day and the school is closed around two or three in the afternoon.

In essence, today, despite the digital age, with an endurance for learning and evolving, is the remarkable local library and I truly wish it stays and prospers forever, as ours and other local libraries anywhere are profoundly irreplaceable.