5 life lessons you learned at the library
With tightening government budgets and growing expenses, libraries are at risk. How will we teach our kids these 5 important life lessons?
Photo: dolanh/flickr - Learning to be quiet and still. No simple task for a young child.
- Obtaining a library card was a big deal. We took this as a grown-up responsibility. In my case, I got my first wallet just to house my new library card.
- Delight in being read to during "story hour" by another adult other than a parent or teacher.
- Deadlines. We were taught to keep a close eye on the date on the book pocket otherwise we had to pay the nickel if the book was late!
- Reading books for enjoyment.
Comments
Other than learning to be quiet so everyone could read in peace, I don't know about life lessons per se. But for a kid who loved books a library was (is) an infinite joy. Plus, the anticipation of someday being old enough to explore outside the kids' section was a close second to waiting for Christmas.
We're losing too much of what really matters . . . from sea to shining sea . . .
One of these days, kids from some faraway place will be taking donations to send books to those poor.... More
I hope it doesn't come to that. A community relatively near us has shut down their school library and the majority of the students have no way to get to the public library and definitely not buy books. Much like a food desert in cities, the area has become a library desert for children. The parents and community continue their fight though--operating a makeshift library with donated books for the children while they try to get the school system to change their mind.
Tarrant - What happens to all the books when a library shuts down? I would have thought that a public library would be shut down before a school library. This is almost unimaginable to me.
It seems, though, that the books in the closed library ought to be made available to the parents and community so that they can still be available to the children.
Over my lifetime, I have managed to collect a fair number of books, but if I had ever had to buy.... More
The school system took them as I remember. Presumably in storage or distributed to other schools. The rumor is now they plan on putting a small library within the school (which already has overcrowding) and tear down the building the library was in.
I am sorry to hear this as it sounds like they are doing an end run around the parents and other community members interested in restarting the library.
It is also an odd progression. I have re- read this whole thread several times in the last few minutes trying to refresh my memory and, then, to make sense of it. Of course, I don't know what led to the closure of the library - I would have to assume a budget problem - but storing or farming out the books and tearing.... More
The building is a 100-year-old field house, so not easily renovated. (and yes, money) Re-reading news stories, the school had a library until the 80s, when it was turned into classroom space. Parents have been working to get a library for a number of years, particularly since the closest public library shut down. Then the field house was slated to be torn down with excuses that renovations would cost too much. Now the school wants to put a library in a room now used for special ed students and.... More
We love our library with a passion and spend time there each week. As a child, my mother took us to the library often as well. I loved when I became old enough to go by myself. I took a Red Cross babysitting course there-giving me credentials to go with my first jobs. I learned that no matter how little money you had available--that knowledge was available FREE from a library. I learned that owning something didn't reflect the richness of your knowledge and life. I learned to research at a.... More
Tell me about your experience and life lessons from libraries. Mine below.
~Tarrant
mnn staff
