Ten minutes

Within the space of ten minutes -- an older parent reminded me that her son was a reluctant reader and she offered that my recommendation of Lemony Snicket has turned him into a reader to a caregiver that mentioned her charge had recently passed away and wanted her service to be in the library because she loved it so much. 
Contestant #2, branch library manager

I love that the value of the public library as an educational connector "from the lapsit to the nursing home" (see my last entry) was demonstrated in the matter of time it takes to walk around the block or cook an egg. Reluctant reader now an enthusiastic reader. BAM. An elderly person who loved the library so much she wanted her funeral there. BOOM.

LIBRARY OUT *mic drop*

Okay, so I guess I do need to say a few more words.

One of the Tulsa City-County Library's goals is to help children compete globally. But that's quite an elephant to eat all at once, isn't it? How do you break down such a lofty goal? Most educators will tell you that if you do nothing else for a child to help him or her do well as adults, the BEST thing is to foster a love of reading.

There are all kinds of reasons for this (readers tend to do better in school, get more attention, take harder classes, etc., which leads to better higher education and more career opportunities), but the clearest one is that reading is the best way to learn about things you cannot possibly learn about by doing or seeing them on your own.

Most of us will never travel to Africa or watch an owl eat a mouse or pilot a spaceship to the moon. But reading allows children to do all of these things, expanding their knowledge and their sense of possibility.

So what's the best way to ensure children will be able to compete globally?

Lemony Snicket, of course.

The second part of the story is a little more macabre, though now that I think of it, why not hold a memorial service in a library? There a departed soul can go to mingle with all of the other departed souls written about in books, or who have written books, and be reborn -- stay alive through the act of others reading them or reading about them.

Not a bad way to spend ten minutes.