AMMON: Proud to be a librarian

Lest readers of a recent column believe that librarians are anti-American, anti-family and wicked, I must correct the record.

Over the past 40 years, my job as a public librarian was dedicated to carefully curating material collections and programs to serve the needs of my community. The thousands of librarians that I know and observe are thoughtful and caring. They struggle with limited budgets and mightily strive to provide a variety of materials for the many opinions and needs of all the people they serve. 

Librarians are professionals who spend countless hours learning. Once a friend asked me what librarians do at conferences and workshops. “Do you talk about the Dewey Decimal system?” he joked. 

The answer is that librarians never stop learning and training to make good decisions. They learn about patron safety and privacy; they are instructed on saving tax dollars; they are inspired by understanding that libraries make a difference everyday in the lives of their users.

Remember the days when we all wanted literacy? I recall those times when having an informed populace on all sides of all issues was something everybody wanted. 

Know that citizens can and should have faith in libraries and librarians just like librarians have faith in parents making choices for their own families and not all families. That’s pro-family, pro-American and definitely not wicked. 

BETTE AMMON

Coeur d’Alene