Keeber's Kolumn

Library News, by David W. Keeber
Red Rock News
Date: February 15, 2008

When you read, are you a "one-at-a-timer" or a "scatter shot reader?" Do you sit in one favorite chair to read, or do you have a book with you wherever you go and read wherever you are? Do you stick with one genre or are your tastes eclectic? Is reading how you escape from life or what you do to engage with the world by gathering information? Readers come in all styles, types, and habits. But, whatever way you read, you probably recognize that were it not for reading, life would be much poorer for the lack.

A friend of mine refers to the television as the haunted fish tank and at times, it seems such an apt title - not much to see but the same old stuff and very little to get out of the experience. For myself, I watch TV almost out of necessity and would prefer the experience of reading, whether the written page or information I find on the Internet. Of course, the Internet has its own dangers, but if you know how to find pages that offer accurate and timely information, you can avoid much of the same sort of mind rot you find on the television.

National Public Radio has a frequent contributor named Nancy Pearl, librarian, action figure and book "luster." She touts books, some whose theme is travel. Her descriptions can tickle the fancy of any avid reader, and hopefully, set nonreaders on the path to becoming hooked on the book. Monthly, we receive a publication called Book Page, a book review paper in tabloid format. You can see the readers pouring over the pages of each new edition as soon as it comes in. The New York Times Book Review, their Best Seller List, and a host of other sources provide opinions and insights into one book or another, all in an effort to get you to read whatever it is they are hawking. The din and clamor of those that love books is almost so deafening as to make reading impossible.

What is this fascination for the words of others? Why are readers so intent on their immersion into the worlds, real or otherwise, within the printed pages? Is there a cure for this, or is a cure even needed?

I believe it comes from the primeval experience of hearing stories around the fire, when an elder would attempt to explain the world around the listener with the mythic tales of a tribe's forebears. Or maybe it is simply a matter of our trying to recall the wonderful moments in our youth when a parent would read to us and we would disappear into the stories they would impart. Of course, there are probably plenty of other theories for why people read – as many as there are readers, I daresay.

My home is becoming a clutter of books, piled willy nilly on shelves, bedside tables, coffee tables, and counters. In my world, all horizontal surfaces are there simply to stock with books. My wife wonders why I don't just use my library card, rather than bringing home more to add to the heaps. In spite of my doing just that, the stacks continue to grow – thank goodness I am a woodworker and am now building more bookcases! Cold comfort to my wife who fears an avalanche!

Both of my sons read, and if I only impart that skill to them, I can consider myself a good father, at least in my own mind! I have gone to homes that don't have books lying around and those places creep me out. I am starting to see that same reaction in my boys – more evidence of good parenting, eh?

In the end, for readers reading is second nature. For non-readers, it is an exercise that simply escapes them. I am not even sure that you can turn an inveterate non-reader into an avid reader – it seems that it is something you are trained to from an early age. Certainly, many of my library colleagues will disagree, but I have my suspicions. It is a real concern on the part of librarians that the future may bring fewer readers and libraries as we know them will disappear. I doubt it, myself. Just look at a true reader. One might suspect that even after they die, they will find a way to have a small light and a book in the grave with them. Imagine the overdue fines, though!