In Praise of Libraries
Maria Popova has a wonderful new article at Brain Pickings titled “How Libraries Save Lives.” Libraries have always been important to me, and to be honest, if I would have grown up near a college that offered a Master of Library Science degree, then I may well have ended up a librarian instead of a teacher.
In her article, Popova offers a fine collection of quotes and stories in praise of libraries, as well as links to reflections, essays, and art work. You’ll find tributes from Ursula LeGuin, Nikki Giovanni, Henry David Thoreau, and Maurice Sendak. But at the heart of her article is a moving video called “The Bookmobile” from StoryCorps, and it’s so good I can’t resist reposting it here.
Not only are libraries of great worth because of the books they preserve and the service the provide, but many are also of great aesthetic value. For a magnificent display of the beauty of the library buildings themselves, see Ahmet Ertug’s Temples of Knowledge: Historical Libraries of the Western World.
