James LaRue - myliblog

Recently I took a train trip from Chicago to Glenwood Springs. I sprung for a roomette with a fold out bunk bed for the night. (And sleeping on a train was just as much fun as I hoped it would be!) As I left Chicago, there was a winter storm coming. But the train just shrugged that weather aside. During the over thousand mile trip, Amtrak passed right through the heart of many downtowns. I caught a glimpse of many libraries. That's not surprising, since there are more than 16,000 public libraries across the nation--more than there are McDonald's or Starbucks. Isn't that good news? In almost every town across the Great Plains, there are those earmarks of place. A library. A Post Office. A school. A town hall. These spaces represent something we don't think about too often: a public investment in knowledge and civic participation. These are the pillars upon which our nation stands. As I sat in my little room and watched the miles fly by, I also listened to an audiobook (B...

When my grandfather died, I inherited his collection of “The Story of Civilization” by Will and Ariel Durant. This 11-volume series, 50 years in the making, stretches from “Our Oriental Heritage” (volume 1) to “The Age of Napoleon.” The prose is magisterial. The Durants were shrewd, probing, superbly balanced in diction and idea. They did more than sum up the past. They sought wisdom. I confess I have not read the whole thing. But I have flipped through the thousands of pages to consider what my grandfather underlined or commented on. And I did read the companion volume: “The Lessons of History.” (It only has 118 pages.) Two big lessons stick with me. One of them is the wry observation that human beings are reliably violent and crazy. To try to rein in our more destructive influences, we create institutions. The family. Religion. Work. Nations. But institutions, founded by human beings, take on human flaws. One in three women and one in four men have been physically abused by an intima...

 I think very highly of the publisher of my On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US.  They just sent out this link  to put together a little holiday bundle of books. Support your Colorado publishers!

The Garfield County Public Library District is seeking trustees (our word for library board members) to fill three vacancies. (For more information, visit www.bit.ly/GCPLD-wanted ). Applicants do have to live in Rifle, New Castle or Parachute. By the end of the year, the Rifle position will have been vacant for six months, due to delays in the county’s management of the appointment process. In New Castle, Brit McLin will be up for reappointment after his first year, as he completes the term of Crystal Mariscal. The Board of County Commissioners are requiring even the trustees they interviewed and appointed themselves to reapply. Michelle Foster is termed out in Parachute. Her great depth of community insight and experience will be sorely missed. Thank you, Michelle. Congratulations, you lucky folks at the western edge of the county for the gift of her time. The Commissioners have never really said what they’re looking for in trustees. Nor have they said how the commissioners evaluate t...