Tears in a Library
The NY Times ran an article that caught my eye today. Library's are fast providing more than literature and internet access as the economic situation in America worsens. "These days... community need reaches far beyond reference help — and in many libraries, it is turning a normally tranquil place into an emotional and stressful hotbed." The line that really caught my eye though, as a rather bookish person who spends so much time in libraries myself, was this comment by a reference librarian in Arlington Heights, Illinois: "I guess I’m not really used to people with tears in their eyes." Although the pain of those struggling to make ends meet today is tragic, I can't help but think it is a good thing when the sometimes cold world of books and dead authors is intruded upon by lived life. Real tears are foreign to a library, but it seems to me they should be most welcome.
Email