Yay for Libraries and Librarians! by Allie Burton

I tossed the other way and rolled off the edge. A second of weightlessness had my insides tightening and disbelief dazzling my sight. There was nothing sturdy beneath me. My knuckles whitened and I repositioned my hands on the precipice. I struggled to pull myself back on the floating rock. My muscles tightened and strained. Sweat formed on my upper lip. The precipice crumbled beneath my fingers. The icy crag splintered and blasted into pieces. I dropped into the abyss.

And I turned the page.

The shelves of the library surrounded me again. I wasn’t hanging from a precipice about to fall to my death. I was in the library with tons of other books filled with adventures.

Libraries have been an important part of my life. In libraries I find escape from the real world, adventures, and romance. I read about real places I wanted to travel. I studied and researched projects for school, and now research my own books.

I understand the impact of libraries and librarians because I volunteered in a school library. I loved talking to the kids to find out their interests and then recommending books that they might enjoy. Most of the fiction books I’d read myself. Or speaking with a child who wasn’t a big reader and steering them to a series they might fall in love with. Or reading to the younger children whose small faces show excitement at a hungry caterpillar. Librarians do all that and more.

Librarians have a wealth of knowledge and are there to help you. So ask a question, get a recommendation, request assistance with research. The more you use libraries, the more likely they’ll get the budgets and be part of your community for a long time to come.

It’s the reason YA Outside the Lines turned National Library Week (April 3-9) into Library Month. Because libraries and librarians deserve a full month of love.