For the Love of the Library

Friday we broke ground on what is to be a new wing to our library. A great many people were gathered to celebrate with us. Our Scholar in Residence, a Georgia Writer of the Year gave a nice speech about the importance of the library. It was a time to celebrate the place that the library plays in the life of the community. It is easy to forget that we librarians are not the only ones who see the library as crucial to the education of our students and faculty. We often feel taken for granted. We may have faculty status, but not be considered on par with the other faculty. We may be among the first to face budget cuts. Yet we soldier on resisting an inferiority complex. Friday, at the ground breaking, a small multitude turned out to tout the library and librarians. I felt proud to be a librarian. I felt appreciated. The whole campus and much of the community was throwing a party for us.


I remember asking Gwendolyn Brooks once if she thought that poetry was going out of fashion. She said that there have been, and always will be people who are deeply touched by poetry. I think that the same could be said about the library. Beyond the budget cuts, the work to prove our value to the community; beyond the students who still have not been through our doors or have not been to our databases; beyond all of this, there are those who deeply love and are greatly impacted by the library. This is what I felt on that day as we broke ground.