Letters to the Editor
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at least you still have a public library
I'm trying not to cry.
Everything Keillor says about what a library can mean is true. What isn't true is that neighborhood libraries still exist. I live in Memphis, Tennessee, and our brilliant, insightful leaders (who are demanding money to build a new stadium) have just ordered the closing of several of our public libraries, including the White Station branch, which was to me growing up what Keillor's library was to him.
Libraries, they say, are an idea whose time is past. This is the information age, and information (everyone knows) comes exclusively from computers.
I presently live within the most densely populated zip code in Memphis. There is no library within walking distance of me. Never has been. There were never plans for one. There are no bike lines in Memphis, either. Not one single bike lane, and rudimentary public transportation, which means that the children of the many poor people without cars (for whom a library would be most essential, as a link to a better life) are shit out of luck. The closest branch closes at 6 p.m., making it essentially impossible for anyone who works or anyone with working parents to use it. I haven't been, but I've read in the papers why it closes so early: rows of gang members lined up outside, a beating and rape of a librarian in the parking lot, regular theft and intimidation of visitors.
The quiet zone inside a library isn't valuable unless you can get to it.
Mayor Willie Herenton, our city's leader, doesn't see libraries as a priority, which you might consider odd, since he was superintendent of schools before becoming mayor and could therefore be expected to take an interest in education. He doesn't. He takes an interest in bringing pay-for-view boxing matches to Memphis, and he takes an interest in basketball, but not education.
Public libraries sure are nice.