Steve Frey
The Holocaust never happened. Bats are blind. The Civil War wasn’t about slavery. George Washington had wooden teeth. Human activity has not contributed to changes in the environment. The world is flat.
All of these statements are false, although some people swear they are not, even today. That’s why we need knowledge centers; that’s why we need libraries.
Today is the last day of National Library Week, April 8-14, and we should all have been celebrating this week.
Our school system, university, and public libraries are centers of learning and have been since Benjamin Franklin began the first one in America in 1731.
I have fond memories of visiting our school library when I was very young. My best friend was really into math and science, and on our once a week visits to the library, he would always get a book from the Tom Swift series. There was “Tom Swift and His Airship,” “Tom Swift and His Sky Racer,” “Tom Swift and His Wizard Camara,” and many more.
I wasn’t into Tom Swift like he was; my interests were more in the areas of history and biographies. I found a series of books, too, though, that fed those interests. My choices were books about Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, Thomas Edison, Davy Crockett, and others.
I liked the series because those books gave you the life story of these heroes from when they were young children through adulthood. They were also always very positive and showed how people often had to overcome obstacles to be successful.
That was and is the great thing about a library—it has something for everyone.
The theme this year for National Library Week is “Libraries Lead,” and they sure do in today’s world.
The honorary chair for this year’s celebration is Misty Copeland, who was promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, making her the first African-American woman ever to achieve that position in the company’s 75-year history.
She is also the author of the bestselling memoir, “Life in Motion.” Her 2014 picture book, “Firebird,” won the Coretta Scott King Book Illustrator Award in 2015, and she had a new book, “Ballerina Body,” published last year. Ms. Copeland’s quote for this year’s celebration of libraries is, “Discover your passions and achieve your goals at the library.”
Schools are the center of the community for student learning, sports, plays, and other activities. Libraries, however, work hand-in-hand with schools and provide lifelong learners with the opportunities to explore those passions and goals Ms. Copeland referred to in her quote.
Many people talked about the demise of the library with the growth of the internet and digital information so easily accessible through a computer. However, libraries are so much more than just a repository for books and movies.
A University of Southern California position paper stated that the libraries of the future will be “gateways to information, education, and opportunity.”
That report sees future libraries as part of the “maker space” movement. This movement tries to “provide useful spaces in which patrons can come to practice more hands-on skills. For example, some libraries have creative lab space with video and sound equipment for making and editing videos. Others provide patrons with a 3D printer, vinyl cutter, and a laser cutter. Another library has a loom for weaving.”
The article goes on to say that today, many libraries provide “large conference rooms and classrooms, many with video conferencing capabilities or a digital projection system. Some libraries even have performance spaces with bleacher seating for theatrical productions.”
Brian Resnick, in a story in “The Atlantic,” said, “The library of the 21st century is a community workshop, a hub filled with the tools of the knowledge economy.” That point comes up repeatedly: the modern library is moving away from being just a storehouse of information to a place for the community to share knowledge.
Many libraries in the NRV have already embraced that change. There are local history discussions, thematic movie presentations, political candidate forums, opportunities for groups with a shared interest to get together, instruction in how to use various forms of technology, book discussions, and talks by authors.
Here are a few recent or upcoming offerings at the Radford Public Library: Paint and Wine Design, Teen Job Preparation Workshops, Storytelling Through Gaming, Chess and Lego Club Together, Radford Reads with CeCe Bell, NRCC GED Classes, Music and Movement Evening Storytime, and a myriad of other activities.
Yes, there are still shared resources so you can check out books, read magazines, and pick-up movies.
Speaking of books, a study a few years ago found that many people like to check out books over just downloading them. They prefer going to the library and discovering familiar authors’ books conveniently located together. They love the feeling of a book in their hands. Books will not be disappearing anytime soon!
There will hopefully always be storytimes to excite children about books, themes, and authors. Children love to read a book with their parents and see the pictures up close, and libraries provide a seemingly endless supply of titles. (Don’t forget about reading with your children for at least 15 minutes a day!)
School libraries have embraced technology and have become a real “Learning Commons.” School media specialists work with classroom teachers on curriculum-related projects, research, different kinds of presentation formats, and all sorts of modern technology. All of this is in addition to the print and other media services they provide.
With Radford University and Virginia Tech nearby, our communities also have access to world-class resources. We are very fortunate to have their massive collections so close.
When I was in elementary school, our town’s library was an imposing white edifice, and on the side of it was a little hobbit door for the children’s section in the basement. It was a right of passage to begin using the main library upstairs that was always completely quiet, with imposing librarians who would look over their half-glasses to make sure you were handling the materials correctly. You just knew they were hoping to say, “SHHHH” at the smallest speaking indiscretion.
The libraries of today have changed drastically from those days of old. Today’s libraries are community gathering places filled with people willing to share and hoping to learn.
You have the shared resources of the community in the way of books, materials, and technology. You can improve yourself. You can find the information you can’t find elsewhere in special collections. There is truly something for everyone at every age.
So on this last day of National Library Week, we say thank you to all of the librarians, media specialists, and staff members who make our libraries a source of knowledge, creativity, community, and lifelong learning.
Libraries do, indeed, lead!
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.
