Books have always been an important part of my life. I learned to read before starting school (in the first class of kindergarteners at our district) because I wanted to do what my three older brothers were doing. We didn't have a lot of money, so Mama found books where she could, at yard sales, giveaways and even the dump (I've never understood people who throw away perfectly good books).
She was determined that her babies would be able to read what they could handle.
Once I went to school and she went to work at a nursing home in Greenwood, money was a little less tight, but she still economized where she could so she could save up for an encyclopedia set. That circa 1976 Encyclopedia Britannica took us all through school.
I don't remember library visits in those early years, partially because the nearest public library was about 15 miles away. But once I started school, I had access to the school library, and I checked out as many books as I could every time I visited. That library was my happy place, and I meant to check out every book there. I don't know how close I got to that goal, but I do know I read a lot.
In summer when we weren't camping or in Vacation Bible School, I was reading books we'd been given, the few cheap ones from the Scholastic Book Fair or books Mama and I would pick up at the Greenwood library on her days off. Reading was an escape, especially if I went to one of my hidey holes, like underneath the trees at one corner of our property. It was quiet and secluded and perfect for reading.
As I grew older, I loved libraries even more, though it annoyed me that I would sometimes have to go to different ones for what I needed; Mama had to take me to the Fort Smith library for the Russian literature I sought for book reports (I couldn't find "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" or "The Gulag Archipelago" anywhere else). I began working at the school library once I started high school, and absolutely loved my time there, reading when I wasn't reshelving books or helping other students find what they were looking for.
If I didn't love writing so much, I might have ended up a librarian. As it is, I have many friends who are librarians; heck, some of the first friends I made at the newspaper were the librarians. So I tend to get my back up when someone denounces libraries and librarians.
Libraries are an important part of life, especially for those who don't have the money to buy books. Without libraries when I was a kid, I would have missed out on a lot, despite Mama's dedication to making sure I always had something to read that engaged me.
What some people seem to not get about public libraries is that they're public. They're not there to curate to a single audience, but to the community at large, which is why there are separate sections. The responsibility for what is read lies not with the library, but with the patrons (and if they're children, with their parents). Just because a book is available does not mean you have to read it, and its availability to others thus shouldn't be an issue.
Not everyone is going to want to read something by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but that doesn't mean that it should be out of circulation. This isn't the Soviet Union where dissidents like Solzhenitsyn were imprisoned for their writings. Here, though, we let groups with political agendas direct what is available.
Last month the American Library Association released its report on book challenges in 2023, which documented 1,247 demands to censor 4,240 titles, the most ever. The report found, among other things, "Pressure groups in 2023 focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92 percent over the previous year; school libraries saw an 11 percent increase. Groups and individuals demanding the censorship of multiple titles, often dozens or hundreds at a time, drove this surge." Forty-seven percent of the titles challenged were books by and/or about LGBTQIA+ individuals and people of color.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the reports from librarians and educators demonstrate "the organized campaigns to ban books aren't over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read."
"Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read," said ALA President Emily Drabinski. "Libraries are vital institutions to each and every community in this country, and library professionals, who have dedicated their lives to protecting our right to read, are facing threats to their employment and well-being."
In this National Library Week, let's stand up for libraries and librarians. Patronize libraries in person or online (the Libby app is great for introverts like me). If you don't approve of certain books, you don't have to read them or let your child read them, but you don't get to forbid others from reading them.
Live and let live, and let readers read.
Assistant Editor Brenda Looper is editor of the Voices page. Email her at blooper@adgnewsroom.com. Read her blog at blooper0223.wordpress.com.