One for the Books

There was a countywide library levy on yesterday's ballot and I am delighted to record that it passed. "Squeaked by" would be more accurate; the unofficial results say it won by 202 votes. But a win is a win and I am thrilled that Delaware County voters supported the measure despite the Great Recession, despite the job losses, and despite the economic uncertainties that color everything these days.

Libraries are among my favorite places in the world and ours is no exception. Libraries have served as safe havens for me throughout my life. My earliest journeys by myself outside of my immediate neighborhood were to the Delaware library, which then was across the river and up the Central Avenue hill. At that time, the library was housed in a magnificent Neoclassical structure, built in 1906 as one of the 2500 Carnegie libraries that dotted this nation. I did not know the name of the architectural style when I was little, but I appreciated the mood the imposing façade set. The goal of a Neoclassical building is to impress upon the citizens the importance of the civic realm and to encourage them to participate as a matter of right and responsibility. Our library did that in spades.

To enter the library, you walked up the outsides steps, past two massive columns topped by capitals featuring the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The columns were echoed in the brick pilasters, also topped by Corinthian capitals, that formed the outer edge of the portico. Within the portico were the main doors; beyond them a small flight of marble stairs leading to the atrium. Entering the library was like entering a temple.

I had a troubled childhood in too many ways and the library was a place of refuge. I was always safe at the library, both in person and in spirit. I was fortunate in that the head librarian, Mrs. Judd, sensed that the library was really special to me. On summer days, if I showed up before the 10:00 a.m. opening time, she would allow me to come in early. Sometimes she directed me to books, more often she just wanted to know what I was reading. Back then, there was a rule that you could not leave the children's side of the library until you had completed 4th grade. One of Mrs. Judd's many kind acts to me was to give me permission to slip into the adult stacks a year early.

I didn't recognize it then, but going to the library and reading brought an order and peace to a world that didn't always make sense to me. Books soothed me, instructed me, enlightened me, and healed me. I am now old enough to realize that books do that, and more, for so many of us out there.

There is a beautiful moment in the movie "The Shadowlands" when C. S. Lewis questions a student as to why he reads. The student responds, "we read to know we are not alone." As a child, as a young adult, and even today, I still read to know I am not alone.

I am who I am today in large part because of the libraries in my life, starting with the one here in Delaware. That is one reason I am so happy the levy passed yesterday. Although we are mired in an economic mess and all of us are counting our pennies, sometimes twice, enough voters felt books and access to them are important enough to a community to pay a little extra for them.

Thomas Jefferson said "I cannot live without my books." Apparently, neither can we.