Thing 4: Get to Know Your Public Library, Part I

Public libraries are one of our most important public institutions, and have been from the days of ancient Alexandria to today's Library of Congress. . .I have fond memories from my earliest years of using the public library to sate my appetite for knowledge, information, and magic. . .The public library never lets me down--when it's open. . .Funding for our libraries continues to be a thorn in the side of all of us who call ourselves profesdional educators. . .As professionals and citizens we must demand that libraries operate year round with hours from the mornings to the evenings. . .The online services now available through libraries should not be viewed as a substitute for keeping the libraries open. . .We should not be shuttering libraries, but we should be building better and bigger libraries. . .Andrew Carnegie pledged his fortune to the construction of public libraries a century ago. . .Where are the Carnegies of the 21st century--both in the public and private sector. . .But in an era when school districts will not give more then lip service to the need for certified librarians in every school building, who can expect anything more than what we are getting: lots of talk, little action, and even less money. . .(I bet Baghdad's Green Zone has a world class library). . .For something to change, we as educators can no longer sit on the sidelines and allow the bureaucrats and political hacks to make policy about subjects of which they are hopelessly ignorant. . .We need to be the policymakers. . We know the problems. . .We know the solutions. . .Either we hang together or we hang separately. . .drfaust