Virtual Library Legislative Day

One of the things I missed during the busy primary season was National Library Week. Many thanks to the nice people in sensible shoes who work in our libraries. May 13th and 14th are designated as Virtual Library Legislative Day. You are invited to contact your congressional representatives and let them know how valuable our nation's libraries are.

The linked page lists several issues of importance with relevant legislation pending. Libraries are sometimes referred to as "the people's university," providing educational and recreation reading (and these days films and computer access as well) to those with limited incomes and also to the vast store of information no longer in print and not freely available on the Internet. I find the newspaper articles cited so frequently here via a database available through a library. When I was growing up there were no bookstores in the area, and, even if there were, it wouldn't have been in the family budget to buy them. Libraries were my primary source of reading material and I spent many happy hours there.

One of my more unusual library memories happened when I was a young lass and just off to college. I was working in the university library and had been assigned a task working alone in a large store room. (Yes, I did take a few spins around the room on a book truck.) The area had once been a chemistry lab and there was an effort to see if there were any residual hazardous traces. No one had warned me though and I was quite surprised one day when a man in a full radiation suit with a geiger counter came in, swept the room, and left without saying a word.