Who Needs a Library?

The Hancock County Library is in serious trouble, it is being forced to close on the weekend and lay off staff. This is a tradegy. The library is the once place we have for problem solving. The computers are there, with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, this is where the unemployed find out about about job openings and complete applications. Many jobs don't even use paper applications any more.

Jeanette Waddell and her niece Kendra Akbar at the Hancock County Library

Many memorable experiences have taken place in the library. The love affair with libraries really started before I ever held my first book. The affair began with my father telling me the adventures of Brer Rabbit, Bear and Fox. Mom never let us forget the misadventures of Epandonois, stepping carefully into the center of all his mother’s freshly baked sweet potato pies.

The love affair gathered steam after holding that first book. There’s nothing like the smell, feel, crisp pages and the sound of cracking the binding of a new book. In the bookstore, money is the limiting factor. In the library, a free library card is the ticket to adventure.

Regardless of my age, the library always has something new and exciting. When I have a problem, going to the library is as natural as eating when I’m hungry. I’ve learned home, computer and car repairs, how to prepare tax returns, write resumes, become a better parent and cook.  I’ve attended community meetings, seminars, celebrations and storytelling performances.

Libraries have accompanied me far from my rural Hancock County beginnings. They are the one constant. Throughout Georgia, the library symbol looks the same and I’m comforted knowing one is just around the corner.

On a fairy tale day at the library in Sparta, I spotted a handsome blond, blue-eyed gentleman with a bulging book satchel. During a community meeting, he sat across the table. One meeting at the library led to another, that meeting lead to a date, eventually all those meetings, book discussions and dates culminated in a wedding.

We are now living happily ever after, still holding meetings at the library. Walking through those familiar doors, library card in hand, seeing the rows of computers, shelves of books, the circulation desk, we are at home.

Who needs the library, we do.