The Relevance of Libraries

I am sharing this article because I think it's important.  It also speaks well of my library...

Thanks to WAFB, Channel 9.  Baton Rouge, LA.

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Woman says library gave her second chance at life

Posted: Jan 27, 2011 5:29 PM CST Updated: Jan 27, 2011 9:19 PM CST

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By Tyana Williams - bio | email
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The main library on Goodwood Boulevard will have a brand new building in two years.  But until then, one woman is speaking out to make sure those plans aren't getting taken off the table.  Sharon Bell says with all the crime in her neighborhood, the library became her second home.
The Goodwood branch is by far the busiest library location.  Librarians say the main branch sees around 1,500 people a day.
Sharon Bell is what you might call one of their regulars.  "I can literally walk you through this library and tell you where every book is," she said.
Bell says the books were a blessing.  She says her neighborhood has its share of criminal activity, so when things got crazy she gathered her son and went to the library.  In fact, she says she began visiting the library six days a week and staying for about eight hours a day.
Bell came to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home.  She says initially she was trying to fill out FEMA paperwork, but realized she needed to do more to better herself.
"My first day of college was here at the library.  I enrolled in college here, I attend college here," Bell said.  She says librarians began to take notice she was spending all day in the building.  But as soon as she told them her story, they began pointing her in the right direction for research help.
Now that the branch expanding, Bell says she's hoping to encourage others.  She wants to help someone else find a way out of a situation similar to hers.
"I am a single mother.  My husband got murdered in New Orleans.  So coming here changed my life. There was a lot of help here for us, if you wanted it," Bell said.  "It's all been through a book, a simple book."
Construction on the new library should break ground in the spring.  As for Sharon Bell, she says she's set to graduate from college in May.
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On Being a Personal Librarian

I'm a reference librarian.  I find information.  I show people how to use databases.  I solve puzzles.  I am not a Readers Advisor. 

For one thing, my own reading is pretty narrow.  I hate mysteries.  Bodice rippers bore me anymore.  The most popular authors in the most popular genres just don't do it for me.  My non-fiction reading is totally devoted to food.  I do read science fiction and fantasy -- and the occasional thriller.  I also read chick lit, but I'm getting over it.  But unless you like to read what I like to read, I'm no help to you.  Reading is personal to me and I'm not going to read stuff just to be useful.

That said, for the last 8 months, I've been my mother's Personal Librarian. 

That she even trusted me to pick books for her says a lot about my mother's belief in my abilities as a librarian (or maybe she was just using me).  She wasn't quite as narrow in her reading as I -- but she did hate mysteries, was bored with bodice rippers, and indulged in the VERY occasional thriller.  However, she did NOT read science fiction and fantasy.  She liked Danielle Steele!  She liked Southern fiction -- but none of the authors you'd expect someone who liked Southern fiction to read.  She liked historical novels, but no Elizabethan settings (what did she have against Elizabeth??).  I could go pre-Eliz and post-Eliz, but Eliz herself?  Anathema!!  She read Christian fiction, but I had to be careful with that.  If it was too... sappy, she gave me the stink eye.  She did like a good adventure story every now and then, and I managed to find a few that didn't get tossed back into the bookbag immediately (that was the definitive sign of choice failure).  I will have to give her credit, though;  if I did find a good one, she bragged on me Big Time -- throughout her reading of the book.   I think she was worried that I'd stop trying if she didn't acknowledge my successes.

At first, I hated being responsible for finding Mama's most important entertainment avenue.  Reading was so much a part of who she was and it was her biggest act of daily living.  It freaked me out, and I dreaded the Tuesday night book pull.  But as the weeks wore on, I started to view it as a reference question -- a puzzle to be solved for a favorite patron.  I found myself making her book choices in much the same way I would approach constructing a search for a difficult topic.  I didn't look for similar authors -- that blew up on me early on.  But I looked for similar themes.  I read a few pages of possible titles and considered how the book "read" -- would she find the writing style compelling or would she throw it in the bag by paragraph 3?  Setting was often hit or miss (Elizabeth I was a good example of a miss), but I got pretty good at  figuring out that a book set in Montana in 1843 would not go over, but that a book set in Missouri at the same time would probably make the table rather than the bag.  Being Mama's Personal Librarian started to be fun.

Now that job has ended.  I'll miss the Tuesday night book pull and trying to second guess her reading taste.  I'll miss the disappointment of seeing 10 out of 12 books stay in the bookbag and the  feeling of accomplishment that 6 books on the table brought.  In some ways, being her librarian made me feel closer to her.  It brought us together on a level that was more "friends" than "mother and daughter."  It gave us something to talk about other than her health and the boredom of being homebound.  I think my efforts to keep her in good books was successful overall.  I know she'd say they were.