When I was a kid, the public libraries were my life line to civilization, to education, to books which saved my life at a time when I needed it most. I could not afford to buy a book although on occasion I was able to buy a second-hand book from a thrift store. Now, that times are hard in today's economy because of unwise spending, attempts are being made to make up for this on the backs of the less fortunate. This means the young, the poor, the old and disabled and those who can least afford it. One target by the new governor of California , Jerry Brown, is the public libraries.
While Republicans debate tax breaks for those in the upper income levels, it will be those who have no access to the Internet, books, newspapers and to college education that will be carrying the burden of past policies of a broken economy. I am not near the income that is supposedly needing further tax breaks, but I make enough money to buy my own books. I have a college education. I am in no danger of being homeless, but turn the clock around and if I was suddenly back in the 1960's or 1970's I would be in trouble. I would not be able to use the public library to even read the books I did read during that time.
I used to do housework to support my children when I was just out of college with a college degree and would take left overs from my employers in order to feed my children. I could not find a decent paying job until my name came up in the government lottery and my score was high enough to qualify for a job. I never stopped working and retired several years ago so I could work at home. At the time, government jobs paid less than private sector jobs but that was for men and not for women. For women, they were the end of the rainbow for they paid pretty close to what men were paid. I never left government employment. Now, it is government workers that are paid more. It's ironic.
I lived in libraries and got to know the librarians over the years. They were very kind to me and would often hold books under the counter before hold policies were in place. When there was a scandal about "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis, it was a librarian that gave me the one copy from underneath the counter for me to read. It was an astonishingly beautiful book that gave me a wonderful introduction to Kazantzakis that I was never to forget. I remember reading "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence and realizing that the book was a great book not because of the sex described in the book but because of many other factors. I learned not to depend on what was in the press about books as many journalists never read the books they wrote about.
I learned to do my own research. It was what Rachel Maddow said yesterday on her show. You can't do research on everything on the Internet. She said there is the evident lack of information on sexual matters but there is the lack of information about gun control because of the strength of the gun lobby. Maddow said you still need to use the library. Barnes and Noble is a wonderful book store but they don't carry out of print books. You still need to use a library. If an author is not popular, it will not be in a book store.
Authors fall into popularity and out of it all of the time. The library carries all of them. Some authors are no longer read because of politics or they are associated with the wrong schools of thought. They are still sitting on shelves in libraries as long as no one has noticed them there. Right now there is a ongoing controversy about "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. A publisher is going to take some of the "bad words" out of it so it can be put back into the classrooms. Most libraries have the book with the offending words in it. The Library of Congress is supposed to have all of the books.
I believe in free speech which includes saying or writing whatever one wants in a book. Everyone has the right not to read something if it is offensive. I have a Tweet account and every so often I find an account that is offensive to me and will "unfollow" it. I have that right. I have done it only once. I did not report it as offensive as it might not be to someone else. Books can't just jump off the shelf and force the reader to read it. It is the same for my television and for movies. People will complain about what is on television. Well, don't watch it. Turn the darn thing off. I do. I would rather read anyhow.
I intend on writing letters to different people about the importance of the libraries including Governor Brown. I can't think of anything else I can do at this point. When a large portion of the population does not have access to knowledge such is in libraries they will become tools of those who eat at the underbelly of civilization such as the brown shirts of Germany in the 1920's. We, as a people, can't afford this.
