The other day while out running errands with my son, I thought of something that he and I could do to pass the time and keep him busy. We were driving in our downtown, and I thought, "Hmm...we haven't been to the library in a while.", so after the errands were done, we drove over to the library. I've been to the library with my son a couple of times over the past year, but driving in to the parking lot and seeing my son react to the news that we were going to the library, really got him excited and interested in going. Getting out of the car upon arrival, he was full of energy and pulling at me to move faster. Once we got in there, he seemed to know which section to go to and what books he wanted to have a look at. We ended up staying for about a 1/2 hour, and I ended up checking out 5 books for him.While I'm happy that he's happy about going to the library, the act of going to the library, checking the books out, and reading them over and over at home gives me a bit of pause about this resource. I'm glad that my 3 year old son is enthusiastic about about getting books and having them read to him, but I wonder in this day and age, what with the Internet and countless other diversions, how many kids still go to the library, or for that matter, care to actually read anymore. Although my son watches his share of TV each day, there are times in the day where he's content to simply have a book read to him. If reading a book is enlightening to him (which it is) and makes him happy (which it does), the chore of going to the library is worth everything. With the temptation of fancy and cool gizmos all around, electronic and online virtual games, HD TVs, and of course the Internet, I hope the simple act of going to the library, picking out a book, and holding it in hand and reading it continues. I'm afraid though that it's a tradition which will die out eventually because of overall lack of interest.
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People around here are definitely going to the library. In fact, several of our communities in Washington State where we live have libraries that are bursting at the seams. I would say happily, the users seem a good mix of ages with plenty of kids. And yes, the library-provided computers seem fully used but what you see are parents and kids going out the door with stacks of books. I can't speak for other places but around here our libraries are definitely one of the remaining gathering places without coffee being involved!
Thanks for the comments; while our libraries are busy too, I have a general fear for the future with regards to my post here. A lot of what I see is through the prism of my dad, who's a high school teacher, and deals with so many kids who are falling through the cracks, and have little or no interest in learning. I'm glad my son and the kids in your area are excited about the library, but I'm not so sure about how things will look in the coming years.
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