Since I was a child, the library has been my home away from home, all the more so since we moved frequently. Many herald libraries as pillars of democracy. On this 4th of July, I would like to share a story of how democracy saved a library.

As a teen, I became a page at the Harford County public library.  Sorting books in the back room, I heard conversations among the librarians. One morning, I was shocked to see them in tears.  To me who had since early childhood roamed the library as my own personal fantasy land, librarians were superheroes.

I asked them what was wrong. It turned out there were mismanagement issues that went all the way to the top.  Anyone who spoke up risked being transferred or demoted.

I got an appointment with the county executive and shared what I had learned.

38 years later I can clearly remember his words, “We have known about this for years but you are the first person to walk into my office and bring it up. If 6 people came in and said this is a problem, I could say that the county is up in arms.”

How could I, a teenager, spread the word?  I wrote a letter to the editor of the Aegis, our local weekly.  When I went to work the day it came out, the librarians were beaming. One blew me kisses with both hands.

The next week, the Board of Trustees called a special meeting, open to the public, in which they fired the director.

It was eye-opening to realise that I, with no status other than being a member of the community who cared, could move the powers that be to solve a problem that adults with years of experience had not. 

Later in India, I worked with villagers to set up children’s libraries in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, and saw kids gleefully dive into books outside the classroom, with no grades or exams hovering over their reading.  Such freedom inspires more freedom.