Letters, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012: Libraries' role; Chick-fil-A
Recent articles remind us of libraries' role
Editor:
One very important asset in this great state is the public library system. Rich or poor, those who have all the new technological devices and those who do not, are welcome to all the resources libraries have to offer.
Libraries are the back-up system for all the wonders of modern technology. When your computer crashes there are computers available in the library. When your handheld reading devices go blank, the library might have the hard copy.
Most national libraries that are computerizing all the great works and important national historical documents rely on hardcopy sales to continue that work, and all realize that if and when a computer hacker, foreign or domestic, successfully crashes the Internet, those hardcopies are not lost as some will have been placed in libraries.
A librarian is not just someone who stacks and inventories books, but someone who is a custodian of all human knowledge gathered in that library; a researcher who can assist others in their research, a preserver in case technology fails or some other disastrous event occurs; and, in some cases, an educator.
Two excellent articles, appeared side by side, in the Aug. 19 "Perspective" section. One "Reading essential to success" by Jorea Marple, West Virginia Superintendent of Schools, introduced the new learn21wv.com website.
"This site offers learning resources to get extra help in a subject or to explore new topics in multiple subjects from preschool through 12th grade," she wrote. I can only hope that the school system provided local libraries with all material necessary to ensure that those without technological resources can "achieve their aspirations and ultimately fulfill their dreams."
The second was "Poverty matters a lot in education" by Patricia S. Kusimo, president and CEO of the Education Alliance. Her call involving parents and communities, partnering with local media outlets to create early literacy reading campaigns has, in part, already been taken up by public libraries' summer reading programs. All that is necessary is a way or means of getting those in poverty to and from the library or the library to them.
Roy Green
Hurricane
Defining our rights never a black and white task
Editor:
Regarding the Chick-fil-A issue, under "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" we have the right to choose another establishment if we are "unhappy" with Chick-fil-A.
Our Founders did not create a secular, progressive, socialist, totalitarian state, void of free will and faith, with the unrestrained power to control what we think, say, hear or do; that was not their intent.
The problem with the "secular" argument is that one cannot separate a man's faith from his being, anymore than one can separate wetness from a raindrop. This type of division does not exist because faith is entwined in all that we do.
If we look at it logically, abortion could be deemed an inseparable act of both salvation and savagery. Observed separately, defining which constitutes a "right" and the "pursuit of happiness," is not so black and white. Our founders knew there were no easy answers, so they reasoned correctly that "unalienable rights" and "freedom of speech" would have to apply to everyone and everything, not just the causes we individually championed.
Von Albert Ehman
Charleston
Recent articles remind us of libraries' role
Editor:
One very important asset in this great state is the public library system. Rich or poor, those who have all the new technological devices and those who do not, are welcome to all the resources libraries have to offer.
Libraries are the back-up system for all the wonders of modern technology. When your computer crashes there are computers available in the library. When your handheld reading devices go blank, the library might have the hard copy.
Most national libraries that are computerizing all the great works and important national historical documents rely on hardcopy sales to continue that work, and all realize that if and when a computer hacker, foreign or domestic, successfully crashes the Internet, those hardcopies are not lost as some will have been placed in libraries.
A librarian is not just someone who stacks and inventories books, but someone who is a custodian of all human knowledge gathered in that library; a researcher who can assist others in their research, a preserver in case technology fails or some other disastrous event occurs; and, in some cases, an educator.
Two excellent articles, appeared side by side, in the Aug. 19 "Perspective" section. One "Reading essential to success" by Jorea Marple, West Virginia Superintendent of Schools, introduced the new learn21wv.com website.
"This site offers learning resources to get extra help in a subject or to explore new topics in multiple subjects from preschool through 12th grade," she wrote. I can only hope that the school system provided local libraries with all material necessary to ensure that those without technological resources can "achieve their aspirations and ultimately fulfill their dreams."
The second was "Poverty matters a lot in education" by Patricia S. Kusimo, president and CEO of the Education Alliance. Her call involving parents and communities, partnering with local media outlets to create early literacy reading campaigns has, in part, already been taken up by public libraries' summer reading programs. All that is necessary is a way or means of getting those in poverty to and from the library or the library to them.
Roy Green
Hurricane
Defining our rights never a black and white task
Editor:
Regarding the Chick-fil-A issue, under "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" we have the right to choose another establishment if we are "unhappy" with Chick-fil-A.
Our Founders did not create a secular, progressive, socialist, totalitarian state, void of free will and faith, with the unrestrained power to control what we think, say, hear or do; that was not their intent.
The problem with the "secular" argument is that one cannot separate a man's faith from his being, anymore than one can separate wetness from a raindrop. This type of division does not exist because faith is entwined in all that we do.
If we look at it logically, abortion could be deemed an inseparable act of both salvation and savagery. Observed separately, defining which constitutes a "right" and the "pursuit of happiness," is not so black and white. Our founders knew there were no easy answers, so they reasoned correctly that "unalienable rights" and "freedom of speech" would have to apply to everyone and everything, not just the causes we individually championed.
Von Albert Ehman
Charleston
Get Connected