“She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.” This statement was under a picture of a girl seated in a rocking chair with a lamp next to her when I scrolled through Facebook early this morning. A post following this picture was “In prison, there is no greater escape than a good book.” Reading is a great escape from circumstances, but reading is also a magnificent journey to another place, time, or skill. One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons illustrates Linus talking to Lucy and Charlie Brown, “I have been given my citizenship into the land of knowledge.” A library card can introduce a person to endless delights.
September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month! A library card can be a rite of passage for your child, giving them a sense of obligation and responsibility. As a library patron, children learn the importance of caring for things that belong to others. Children take the essential early step in their development when they obtain their library card and become a conscientious member of the community.
Visiting your local library also encourages your child to read. Reading helps brain development and provides a solid foundation of the language and literacy skills. Opening a book encourages children to travel to far away places and let their imagination soar. Develop reading as a hobby early and young for every child.
The world’s oldest running library is the St.Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai, Egypt. It was built in the mid-6th century C.E. And, the Vatican houses the most extensive collection of religious material in the world. When the Great Library of Alexandria burned down (circa 640 C.E.) among the great works believed to have been lost was the private collection of Aristotle.
The U.S. Library of Congress houses over 150 million items as the world’s largest library. This accomplishment takes up to 830 miles of shelves. In contrast, only one person at a time fits in the world’s smallest library on the streets of New York. The reader can choose from just 40 books.
Andrew Carnegie was a 19th-century industrialist and philanthropist. In just 33 years, between 1886 and 1919, he donated $40 million dollars toward the development of 1679 libraries across the US with about 800 Carnegie libraries still in operation. His own experience as a child instilled the power of libraries for Carnegie. He saw libraries as places where people bettered themselves.
For young adults under the age of 18 years old, a parent or guardian will need to assist in setting up a library account. This state requirement began in June 2024. For adults
who do not have a library account, please have a photo identification with current address for ease of establishing an account. For any other questions about a library account, please call the Dunklin County Library at 573-888-3561. You may also request a free Libby ebook and audiobook account with a Dunklin County Library account