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Apparently it’s Fall Back to Sleep Sunday. My apologies for the lateness of this post. Rainy days are great for oversleeping.

 Yesterday I read a comment online from someone I know about how moved they were by experiencing the Undesign the Red Line exhibit now on display at the Howard County Library’s Central Branch as a part of their Choose Civility initiative. I agree that the exhibit can be life-changing, especially if the information it contains was unknown to you. It’s definitely eye-opening, no matter what.

 Bringing the Enterprise Community Partners exhibit into the library was, in some ways, a bold choice. Yet it’s also a natural for the library’s mission: to provide free access to knowledge and a place to learn. (I’m sure they have a fancier mission statement, I just made that up for this purposes of this post.)

 I think that most folks nowadays know that libraries are about more than borrowing books and consulting reference volumes. I don’t know how one could live in Howard County and persist in the old, outdated notion. Go to their website or social media page. (And explore the social media outreach of  Choose Civility while you are at it.)

 Right now you will see:

  • A Meet the Candidates event
  • Background information on Undesign the Red Line
  • An event to learn how to support backyard birds 
  • Information about the new tool collection in Elkridge
  • An author event about a new book on Deaf Culture in America
Our local libraries have a lot going on in a formal, structured way while also providing a place for many informal moments of study, conversation, and connection.

With all of that as an introduction, I’d like to recommend this post by Eric Klinenberg in the New York Times: 

To Restore Civil Society, Start With the Library

Klinenberg states:

Libraries are the kinds of places where people with different backgrounds, passions and interests can take part in a living democratic culture. They are the kinds of places where the public, private and philanthropic sectors can work together to reach for something higher than the bottom line.

To take this conversation one step further, I recommend listening to Episode 30 of local podcast “Elevate Maryland” featuring the new CEO of  HCLS, Tonya Kennon. There’s lots to think about.

Back to my rainy day plans—perhaps a trip to the library is just what I need.

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