WHAT IS A LIBRARY?

Ray Bradbury, a lifeong passionate supporter of libraries, passed away earlier this month.  We love the things he said about books and libraries.

“There's no use going to school unless your final destination is the library.”

“I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

“You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

Searching for other inspiring quotes about libraries, I found this to repost from the Troy Public Library’s website(http://troylibrary.info/letterstothechildrenoftroy).  Thank you, Troy P. L. of Troy, Michigan!

In March 1970, Marguerite Hart became the first children’s librarian at the Troy Library. She was hired to plan children’s activities and to develop a children’s collection for the booming youth population in the City. Hart was a native of Detroit. Before arriving in Troy, Hart was the children’s librarian at the Madison Heights Public Library for three years.

Hart possessed a passion for libraries and their role in communities. She was determined to provide children with proper library services.  In early 1971, Hart wrote to dozens of actors, authors, artists, musicians, playwrights, librarians, and politicians of the day. She asked them to write a letter to the children of Troy about the importance of libraries, and their memories of reading and of books.  Hart received 97 letters addressed to Troy’s young people from individuals who spanned the arts, sciences, and politics across the 50 states, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, the Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

 In collecting these letters, Marguerite Hart created a snapshot of the cultural and political landscape of the early 1970s. She accumulated a diverse anthology of letters that enriches the Troy Public Library’s remarkable history, and one that is a lasting tribute to the children of Troy – past, present, and future.

You can read the reply from Dr. Seuss a few of the other letters she received.  (The best is saved for the last...)

And my favorite letter, from E. B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web: 

      You can read more about Ms. Hart's project, and all the letters she received, on the Troy Public Library's website at http://troylibrary.info/letterstothechildrenoftroy.