A Celebration of Libraries
Written by: Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”
I love libraries. It isn’t a particular type of architecture. I love the mid-century modern Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. San Jose State University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. library has a fantastic post-modern design. If I were told I could live in a library, it would be the Iowa State Capital law library. It is elegant and magical. Magical is a good word for all libraries. Libraries have within them the information, stories, and dreams that continue to transform our world.
Libraries are over five thousand years old. As early as the written language, humans knew they needed a place to preserve their information. Supposedly, technology was going to make libraries obsolete. I was pleased to read, in Stuart A.P. Murray’s book, The Library: An Illustrated History, in the early months of 2009, “As conditions worsened, news reports began to crop up that libraries were busier than ever…In New York, attendance for 2008 was up 13 percent over the previous year, with circulation reaching 21.1 million items, an increase of close to four million. Similar patterns were evident from coast to coast.” What I didn’t immediately realize was how libraries level the playing field.
Until modern times, books were the purview of the wealthy. Even most libraries were closed but to the few who benefited from the religious or political title or vast wealth. When libraries were made available to the masses they provided a sense of equality and hope to those who had little. Supporting a local library is an act of social justice. When the ordinary person receives the opportunity to read, he/she gains a new perspective on the vastness of human learning. A more-excellent vision of the world can lift a person to a unique passion and joyful experience.
God gave us the ability to learn, grow, and preserve our knowledge. It is incumbent upon each of us to support our local libraries. I pray you will see them as sacred spaces where learning is nurtured, and wisdom sustained. Along with religious books, other written material can provide divine understanding. One cannot read Dickens, for example, without experiencing divine compassion and justice. The world would be a smaller, harsher, less-sacred place without books like David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, and Great Expectations, just to name a few. Today, pray for libraries around the world. Especially pray for libraries in more-impoverished neighborhoods, where their sacred inspiration can transform lives.
