To Pour Forth Benefits

"To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine," – Benjamin Franklin on his founding The Library Company in 1731, the first lending library in North America.

An immigrant arrives in the United States and makes his way to the public library. Upon entering he stops and stares in awe. He makes his way tentatively to the librarian and quietly stands before her.

She looks up, and though startled to see a man staring at her, says calmly, “May in help you?”

The immigrant nods his head, puts his hand on a chair, and in broken English says, “Forgive me, is it true I can read any book in this building?”

The librarian smiles, “Of course!”

Elated, the immigrant literally jumps into the chair, smiles, and looks deep into her eyes, “Please bring me the first one.”

This story had been filed in my soft drive (long-term memory) for many, many years. It popped into my STM (short-term memory) because today is the first day of National Library week.

Some argue libraries are relics and are not needed in the internet age. Philistines!

The doors to my county library have reopened. The library survived COVID and in fact flourished (if anything can flourish) during COVID. Though the doors were locked, libraries stayed open – providing eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines, streaming (music, movies, and TV), and databases (content, online classes, and research). Eventually providing “touchless pick-up.” Zoom allowed live courses, book clubs to meet, author events, and the library to supplement the public schools.

One thing a library with locked doors cannot offer is internet access – a tragedy. Some offered WiFi from the parking lot - it was not the same. I was at the library on March 15, 2020 the day before COVID locked the doors. Walking past a wall of computer screens I cannot help but peak:

A very young girl is working on a school project. The screen reads “What is a tornado?”
A young woman is leaning into her screen – Zillow is showing her houses for sale.
An elderly man in a jacket is reading email - as is a middle-age woman.
Yahoo News screams on another screen
A 30-something women is looking at a high school yearbook. It cannot possibly be hers – maybe her mother or father?
Another man gently plays solitaire.
A wiry man in a red goatee is intently viewing something that can only be described as engineering.