National Library Week

It's National Library Week. 

Sometimes I think we take our libraries for granted. They are one of the pillars of communities, providing all sorts of services beyond the lending of books (which is important in itself) such as Wi-Fi, computer access, movie and music rentals, lectures, classes, book clubs, and much more. 

The American Library Association recently published some facts about libraries and here are a few that I thought were interesting:

• 58 percent of American adults have public-library cards.
• Americans visit libraries three times more often than they go to movies (and hey, they don't even sell popcorn in libraries!).
• Public and academic libraries hold more than 176 million e-books in their collections.
• Academic librarians serve more than 44 million patrons each year -- nearly 12 million more folks who attend college basketball games. 
• The highest achieving students attend schools with well-funded library media centers.
• U.S. citizens spend 18 times more money on home video games than they do on school library materials for their children (why doesn't this surprise me?).
• There are more public libraries (16,766 including branches) than McDonald's in the U.S. (and libraries serve fat-free brain fare).
• And Americans spend almost three times as much on sweets than they do on public libraries (can't say that really surprises me either).

I currently have two books checked out from my local public library that I will finish this weekend. And I look forward to checking out some more when I return.

I hope you plan a visit as well to your local library.

Until the next time...

Authors for Libraries

One of my favorite places in the world is a library because, for the most part, when I'm there I have the whole world at my fingertips. 

It's easy for me to get lost in a library. Once I step inside and start exploring, I lose track of time going from one thing to another. 

It's wise for me to have a "to-do" list so I can stay somewhat focused on my initial purpose for venturing down those hallowed shelves.

Of course, much of the excitement for me in going to the library is to have no purpose at all except to explore the books, music, magazines, newspapers, movies and anything else I stumble upon in my journey.

The other day I was in a hurry and returned books that were due that day. On my way out, I couldn't help but take a look at some of the books and media being offered at the used book store, operated by the Friends of the Library group. I ended up purchasing four books and three CDs.

I recently joined Authors for Libraries, which is part of United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

Why did I join? Well, some of the reasons are mentioned above. I believe libraries are vital to communities by what they have to offer. And they're free (with support from tax dollars)for anyone to use.

And because I'm an author, I feel it's important to offer support for places that house my works as well as those of thousands of other writers. Furthermore, it's somewhat of paying back since I've done research for my books at libraries.

And the benefit will be mutual since it will connect me with libraries and vice versa for presentations, speaking engagements, and ways to promote writing and reading.

So my message to all those authors out there: Support your local library!