I’ve had a fascination with books for as long as I can remember. My mom bought a set of World Book Encyclopedias when I was in grammar school. The pages between those red leather-bound covers were like a mental magic carpet to me.
Our family was fortunate. Neither of my parents graduated from high school but both wanted to ensure their kids had a shot at an education. That’s why they bought the books on the installment plan. It didn’t take a diploma to understand the value of books. Many kids in rural America weren’t as fortunate.
Carl Elliott, who was our representative in Congress from 1949-65, understood the value of books, too. He was instrumental in the enactment of the Library Services Act of 1956. Part of the funding from this bill paid for bookmobiles. These libraries on wheels put knowledge into the hands of millions of rural Americans.
I remember the first book I checked out of the Walker County bookmobile. The title was “The Wildlife Cameraman” by Jim Kjelgaard. I remember becoming lost in the words of that book. It was one reason I wanted to learn photography when I got older.
Through the years, I’ve used the library system a great deal. When I started working south of Birmingham in the ’80s, the commute was brutal. The drive took an hour in each direction, and that’s when the interstate wasn’t under construction. The interstate was always under construction. It still is.
My options were listening to the same three songs on commercial radio or listen to the news. The news option was less appealing because it usually made me want to drive full speed into a bridge abutment. When searching for alternatives, I found the answer in the library: books on tape.
At first, I wondered if I could focus on the words, but I learned that a good story drew me in. I listened to hundreds of biographies, self-help, do-it-yourself and fiction.
The commute had robbed me of 10 hours of my life each week, but finding those books on tape in the library turned wasted hours into an enjoyable part of my day.
As technology improved, books on tape became books on CD. Now with the library’s OneDrive app on my phone, I can download audiobooks or e-books to listen to or read on the go.
National Library Week for 2019 is April 7-13. Last year, a local library invited me to take part in the celebration. I joined several other local writers at an author’s event. It was a pleasant day, and I enjoyed meeting some new friends and catching up with some old ones.
As I looked around, there were a lot of young folks in the library. That was encouraging to me because a library is more than a place to check out books; it’s a place of history, a place of discovery. It’s educational and social.
Walter Cronkite summed it up when he said: “Whatever our libraries cost, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”
I couldn’t have said it better, Mr. Cronkite.
Rick Watson is a columnist and author. His latest book, “Life Goes On,” is available on amazon.com. Email him at rick@rickwatson-writer.com.
