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Published May 10, 2008 12:00 am - For The Transcript The Norman Public Library and the Pioneer Library System just concluded The Big Read, its... Library plays a positive role The Norman Transcript For The Transcript
The Norman Public Library and the Pioneer Library System just concluded The Big Read, its three-month support of programs that help people to explore Rudolfo Anaya's novel "Bless Me, Ultima."? This community-building event was funded this year, and the Pioneer Library had another such program funded last year by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of a national effort to engage citizens in reading great books. David Kipen, NEA director of Literature and program director of The Big Read, came to Norman in February 2008 to help kickoff the event. He spoke eloquently about the positive role a public library plays in a community: "Name me a great man or woman who never owned a public library card. I defy you. On the off chance they don't use the card much anymore, it's because they've parlayed early library use into the kind of success that buys you any book you need, or earns you access to a great university library. "The only reason I can think of not to support a library issue is if you've been so burned by the dumb things government sometimes does that you don't trust it anymore to do a smart one. I can understand that. I can understand it better than a G-man like me ought to admit. "But I promise you this: If you think your government wastes your money now, just wait 'til your local library cuts its hours, or closes completely. Just wait 'til people without library cards start casting the deciding vote -- the few of them who bother to vote at all -- to elect your leaders. Then you'll see what governmental incompetence really looks like. "When your library issues pass, do me a favor and pay a visit to your new library. Look around you. See a librarian, who could be making triple the salary in a law firm across town, helping somebody who just lost a job find work. See a librarian connecting patrons with novels that somehow make them feel just a little less alone. See a librarian reading to kids whose parents don't make the time to. See all this -- and then see if you don't, like me, find yourself supporting library funding every chance you get." RC Davis-Undiano is a Norman resident. 
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