Library Appreciation Week 2013 :-)

This week is Library Appreciation Week and I would like to begin by dedicating this blog post to Mary Sapp. When I was in junior high school, Mrs. Sapp was our librarian - or media specialist in 'newspeak.' I already was an avid fan of books and media, but Mrs. Sapp helped cultivate in me a desire for learning that remains with me today.

Where did this reading jones begin? My earliest memories of reading come from those formative days of reading Dr. Seuss books with my mother who stayed home with me during the day to enrich my ever-expanding mind. I remember eagerly running to the mailbox to pick up the latest edition of Highlights Magazine. I recall the day that my mother arranged for me to get my first library card even before I entered Kindergarten. And, as the late Paul Harvey liked to say, there was the rest of the story...



I do not know where my learning would have gone without the likes of Mrs. Durbin and Mr. Harbin at W.E. Cherry Elementary or Mrs. Brummitt at Orange Park High School. I felt at home in the Media Center (Or library in 'oldspeak') because the educators who worked there were like travel agents who arranged for me to see new places and experience new awakenings with the opening of every book.

All along my path to today, I am grateful to the free public resources that have been, and hopefully will continue to be, available to people of all ages. Andrew Carnegie was right when he set about making knowledge and enlightenment available to the masses. Even among the captains of industry during the Gilded Age, there was an appreciation for the power of the pen and the impact of the page. The greatest ancient libraries eventually met their doom, but we are much more evolved than allowing our stacks to fall to the wayside for the sake of so-called progress.

This week, I implore you, your families, your friends and your communities to save our culture by appreciating our libraries and advocating on behalf of these hallowed halls of knowledge for ourselves and for those tho inherit our culture and civilization. There, of course is a price to our support but our libraries have a value that is priceless!

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