By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
It probably doesn’t come as a big shock to you that a guy who makes his living behind a keyboard is a supporter of the library.
I write for a living, and I want people to read what I write. I also want them to pay for it. (I like to eat, and food cost money.) But I understand not everyone has the same level of disposable income. It’s one of the reasons why we donate several copies of the newspaper each week to both the Grayson and Olive Hill branches of our public library. Because everyone who lives in a community deserves to have access to their elected officials, and to know what goes on in public meetings, even if they are too busy with work or families to attend those meetings themselves.
It’s also why I serve as President of the Friends of the Carter County Public Library.
See, much as I love the written word, and reading for the pure and simple joy of reading, libraries are about more than just free entertainment. (Though they offer that in spades too.) Libraries are about access to information.
When I was growing up, the library was a window onto the world and a gateway to opportunity to me. My parents were working class, and though beginner reader books were one of the few things they rarely said “no” to, as I got older and my appetite for books grew, so did the cost of the books I was interested in. Much as my parents loved me and encouraged my voracious appetite for reading, they just couldn’t have afforded to purchase me all the books I wanted to read.
Books on paleontology. Books on archaeology and history. On folklore and myths. Heavy books, with hard covers, which would have been difficult to find even if we could have afforded to purchase them all.
But we didn’t have to, because the public library was there.
They were there when I was a preschooler and elementary school child participating in summer reading programs.
They were there in the third grade when I read nearly 200 books – though my dad would only let me claim 100 because of his co-workers’ sponsorship pledges – for a multiple sclerosis read-a-thon, earning me a new ten-speed bicycle and my picture in the paper.
They were there as I ventured down paranormal rabbit holes during my high school years, and they were there to pull me back to reality in college.
They were there when I did local history and folklore research for my first popular newspaper series on Ohio River legends for the Scioto Voice.
And they were there when I was living away, and needed a book of Jesse Stuart’s poetry to connect to home and my roots.
Whenever I’ve needed them, libraries have always been there. And they haven’t ever expected me to pay out of pocket for the privilege of using them when I didn’t have the money.
Sure, things are different today. We have the internet, and access to all the world’s collective knowledge, right in our hip pocket.
Or we do if we can afford a cell phone and are in a place with wireless service.
But not everyone has that luxury. Not everyone can get internet at their homes, even if they want to pay for it.
Here, again, the library is stepping up as an advocate for public access. Anyone can visit the public library and connect to the wi-fi there with their existing device. If they don’t have a laptop, phone, or tablet, they can make use of the library’s computers. They can ask a librarian for assistance with navigating technology that might not be familiar to them. And the library is currently working with Windstream to provide high-speed broadband access to communities that aren’t otherwise getting the service where they live.
Libraries are important to me. They’re important to our children, our elderly, and to anyone who values knowledge. I support our libraries whole-heartedly. And I hope you will too.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
