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Long Island libraries an inspirational resource

Susan Marie Davniero

November 15, 2008

I agree with your article ["Life-Changing Books," Nov. 8], that books certainly can be life-changing. Some books can be priceless at your neighborhood library! A library card affords entrance to a world of books you can borrow at no charge. Given the trying times today, when everything has a price, why not try out something for free? Why buy what you can rent? And if one book can be life-changing - imagine what hundreds of books at the library can be!

Opening the door to the library is like pulling the ribbon off a gift. All of your unanswered questions can be passed back to the library shelves to be answered there, among the warehouse of knowledge.

Entering the library, I am prodded back into the lost years of school, where the library was on my weekly curriculum in chapter one. In chapter two, I rediscover the lost find, browsing amid the corridors of books, each book holding the power of words in my hands.

Turning each page to learn of admirable women (Mother Teresa, Hillary Clinton), powerful men (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower), defining wars (Civil, World War II), and varied renowned authors (Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem). I was in good company. I was pining to read more; merely reading the newspapers wasn't enough anymore.

Reading books inspired me to write more (letters, essays, poems). I was now partnered with newly acquainted knowledge to fill my words and end my sentences. I can even do my typing at the library on the computers there. Reportedly, the American Library Association's statistics cite an increasing percentage of library visitors.

I can be added to the roster of new visitors. I wondered now, why did I ever leave? I am back where I started.

Life is a full circle after all.

My library serves delicacies from its menu of books, periodicals and computers. A place where I can "eat my words." The "meals" are free. A complimentary all-you-can-eat buffet awaits you. Serve yourself and take it home. Literally, the library is food for thought.

Susan Marie Davniero,

Lindenhurst

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