A Speech by: Eleanor Roosevelt
The speech I will be presenting is titled “What Libraries Mean to the Nation.” It was given by Eleanor Roosevelt on April 1st, 1936 at the District Of Columbia Library Association Dinner. Many speeches where given at this event a few topics include The Library of Adult Education, Our National Library, and The Libraries of Washington.
I have thought a good deal about the fact that there are so many places in the United States that have no libraries, that have no way of getting books.
Without libraries, without education, we cannot have educated citizens who will carry on successfully our form of government.
One of the things, that I have been particularly grateful for in the years of the depression, is that we have discovered so many things that we had not known before.
They did not happen to think about them, and one of those things, that we used to be able to hide, is the areas of the country which are not served in any way by libraries.
I have lived in the country, in a state which prides itself in spending much money on education, I am quite sure that some people think there is no lack of education and no lack of library facilities. I know one place in the northern part of New York State where they use school books which have been passed down from one child to another. They have practically no books outside of the textbooks. In one of the biggest and richest states in the country, we had a big area that needed books and needed libraries.
But we do have to learn to love books, you do have to learn how to read them, you do have to learn that a book is a companion and that is done in many different ways.
I feel that care of libraries, and the use of books, and the knowledge of books is a tremendously vital thing. We who deal with books and love books have a great opportunity to bring about something in this country. It will take our imagination and patience and constant interest in awaking the interest of other people. I think we shall find that our love of books will bring us a constantly widening audience and consistently more interesting contacts in whatever part of the county we may go.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
It is my opinion that the local libraries are not pure public goods. They are considered a common-pool goods which have a public characteristic and exclusion is non-feasible with competing and exhaustive use because when used it becomes unavailable to others. In its natural state may not be valuable to others, but when used it becomes valuable to the others when used (Mikesell, 2014).…
- 381 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home. ― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life…
- 1100 Words
- 8 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Books give us knowledge and spark our imagination and if you destroy books it is like destroying knowledge. This helps the government to be unchanged (it is like a dictatorship)…
- 1082 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The ideals of a minority should not determine what books are left on the shelves of libraries. It’s one thing if the private institutions chose not to stock certain books in their libraries, but it is a different matter entirely when they want to take books out of the public libraries…
- 642 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
She begins her argument by asking, “What kind of a problem is a library?” By asking the reader this question, they are more likely to ponder it for themselves. It causes them to think about what the purpose is of a library and why some would not be in favor of them. Using a rhetorical question in her introduction opens to audience’s minds so they begin contemplating her argument. Smith concludes her article with another question. She writes, “Pleading, like children. Is that really where we are?” This question causes the reader to realize the importance of actually doing something about the issue of libraries. She believes people need to do more than just complain and plead to keep their library. They need to talk about the importance and what they can do to help keep the library open. Smith’s uses of rhetorical questions benefits her argument because it causes the reader to ponder and further understand the issue at…
- 689 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” he remarked, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience.” Libraries are built on books, schools rely on them. Millions of people have written them to share knowledge and experiences with others. The value of a book is immeasurable, yet some things just can’t be learned by reading books alone.…
- 566 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
It explains the future of books, the importance of libraries, and the responsibilities we have to create as a society that values ideas, imagination, and discovery. Gaiman believes that, “people who cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate” (1). This is true because literature, allows individuals to connect with larger truths and ideas within society. Without literature, there's a boundary that inflicts what there is to know and how to understand it. Also Gaiman relates to his belief in books by stating, “I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens” (4). I agree with Gaiman because digital technology is changing the way in which library materials are preserved. This quote reminded me of when Borders decided to close. I had to make sure during the close-out sale that I grabbed everything I could because I was afraid that books were no longer going to be in use in the future. With technology continuously developing; there’s a high chance that society will no longer operate through artificial materials. I believe that if books are online, this affects the way in which individuals may understand it, or even perceive that information. There should be no reason why one cannot visit the library to gain and interpret their knowledge through a book. I believe that paper copies of books are a much better way to go…
- 945 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The idea of reading has become very unpopular to many people across the world over the past few decades. According to Jordan Weissmann, the author of the article, “The Decline of the American Book Lover”, many people of our generation have stopped reading and have become unintelligent. She says, “The Pew Research Center reported last week that nearly a quarter of American adults had not read a single book in the past year. As in, they hadn't cracked a paperback, fired up a Kindle, or even hit play on an audiobook while in the car. The number of non-book-readers has nearly tripled since 1978”( Weissman). Books provide something that nothing else could ever provide, knowledge. Many could argue that if teachers provide and give us education, what's the point of reading a book? They have forgotten that the only way teachers could’ve gotten the knowledge to teach us is by reading books. Not having books in our society is almost like not having food. It is an essential quality that us humans must have. Similarly. Montag's society almost resembles our current world. Books have been ignored by many people of our generation and nobody has done anything about it. However unlike Montag's society, people of our generation haven’t outlawed reading. They still read books, and it creates a perfect chance to put an end to the extinction of…
- 1254 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Another important issue is the act of banning books in libraries. No one is denied access to a library. When librarians remove certain books from the shelves, they are denying access to…
- 553 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The second world war saw libraries everywhere, even in internment camps. The Americans tried to make the camps as similar to a small city as possible, and that included libraries. The war built libraries but destroyed many more; the Asian continent saw many a nation’s greatest collections burned by enemies. After the war was over, universities filled with veterans searching for higher education. The libraries at that institution not only processed the new information streaming in with the veterans but the requests that they had. The following Cold War sent parents into a panic. They feared that the Soviets were indoctrinating the children with communist propaganda through the books. This led to a complete stop in information from the USSR. That panic rolled into the desegregation of public libraries.…
- 286 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
As a young child, I was always aware of books and the difference between books for children and books for adults. I would not say that I grew up in a family of devout readers, but I did grow up in a family of individuals who appreciated the value of books. Although my parents never seemed to have time to simply sit and read frequently, my mother had engaged with college-level texts in her adulthood, and both of my parents saw the benefit of exposing my sister and me to books at an early age. There was always a bookshelf in my house packed full of textbooks and enormous tomes with dusty, creased spines. We also had a full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica (which I recently found out is going out of print). It would be an exaggeration to say that these books intrigued me because they represented knowledge. However, they intrigued me because although they sat there and collected dust for years, my mother refused to throw them away. It was impressed upon me very early on that books were important, and that throwing them away was wrong. I did not get it completely at that point, especially because those books were incomprehensible to a four or five year old, but I understood that it was something that would be important when I was older.…
- 1194 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
This article, Literacy and the Politics of Education written by C.H Knoblauch was written to express his feelings on how America is becoming illiterate ever since a new era of technology was introduced in 1960. Knoblauch believes that the few who are literate will succeed in life, and that the rest of general society who are illiterate will have trouble finding success in their future endeavors. He has taken on this subject because of his frustration on his fellow peers, and their lack of motivation to excel in literacy. He uses repetition to stress the fact that we need to become more literate to succeed in today’s society. Knoblauch uses articles from various writings of other literate authors to help get his point across. He goes into detail explaining in order for society as a whole to succeed in life that it starts with the success of each individual’s literacy. Knoblauch explains how other totalitarian countries keep their strength by keeping the majority less knowledgeable about literacy. Dictators, of such countries are literate, and keep that privilege from the citizens of that country, because if the people of the country were as literate as the dictator himself/herself then the people would have the power to over through such dictator. Knoblauch uses all of these examples to point out and stress the importance of literacy and writing in the world today, and stresses that without the know-how of reading and writing we will not…
- 256 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Overall, the Carnegie Library has been a solid support system since my childhood. I am glad I had this resource for it helped me understand the passion I hold and the profession that suits me best. I desire to see the Carnegie Library become a ‘library of the future’ to help other children grow, learn, and discover their passions. I hope to continue to grow alongside the library as I have done for as long as I can…
- 546 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Although the library in our community provides several different services for everyone needs. Some people go to the library for various reason it’s not just a place where you take…
- 211 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Books have been around since the 15th century, the Gutenberg Bible being one of the first. They are a way for people to express their imagination. All people should have access to books. When students want to read, most have a full library of books. Some schools limit what their students read and ban them from reading certain books. The policy of banning books is ineffective because it gives students reason to read the banned book and individual parents can decide what their child reads.…
- 1167 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays