Were You a "Library Kid?"

Did you know last week was National Library Week?

Did libraries play a pivotal role in your childhood? Were you a "library kid?"

I was. And I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to thank librarians for the positive difference they've made in my life - and in the life of so many - a few years ago.

Here’s what happened.

I was hired to speak for a regional Library Staff Day during Library Week several years ago on the topic of “GIVE the Quality of Customer Service You’d Like to RECEIVE.”

Every time I speak, I check the morning newspapers to see if there’s anything particularly intriguing and pertinent to our topic that day. It’s a way to pleasantly surprise audiences and introduce something recent and relevant so they know our program isn't a canned spiel.

Wall Street Journal came through with a marvelous column by Bob Greene entitled “I Actually Thanked a Teacher.” In it, Bob talked about how, “Amid the endless torrent of angry and violent world events, I turned off the television set, shut down the computer, and turned to something I hoped would provide welcome respite."

What did he hope would provide a welcome respite? A BOOK.

In particular, a book illustrating the small Ohio town where he grew up. While flipping through it, he came across a photo of his first grade teacher, Ms. Rudoff. He fondly remembers the day she helped him learn the first word he ever read from the Dick and Jane series... LOOK.”

He eloquently describes the joy of reading, “I went home so thrilled that day. I knew how to read a word. When the day had begun I hadn’t known it, and now I did. Such a magical feeling, accompanied by the sure knowledge that other words would soon follow.”

Greene shares how it became important to find Ms. Rudoff. Although it took some doing, he was able to track her down. He told her, “If I’ve ever written a graceful sentence, if I’ve ever appreciated a turn of phrase in a good book, if I’ve ever found comfort in a beautifully told story, it all began with you.”

He said he assumed the hundreds of other boys and girls who passed through her classroom had gotten in touch to let her know how grateful they were for her life-changing impact.

There was a long pause, then she said, “No one ever has.”

Upon hearing that, he promised to visit her the next time he was in her area and closed his column with, “In this world filled with dreadful news events, there’s not much we can do to affect any of that. But all of us can surely think of people who, in seemingly small ways, have made our lives more fulfilled, people who may believe we’ve forgotten them. It’s not too late to find them and tell them. All you have to do is LOOK.”

Thanks, Bob Greene, for that timely and timeless message.

At the beginning of my presentation, I looked those librarians in the eye and thanked them for the positive influence they’ve had on so many people, including me.

I shared Rita Mae Brown's quote, "When I got my library card, that's when my life began."

I told them I could relate as I too was a “library kid.”

I rode my Palomino horse Joe (who only had two speeds, a hard trot and a flat-out run. He never, ever walked) to our small town library in New Cuyama, CA.

I think I read every single book they had. My favorites were Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series. I’ll always be grateful to our local librarian who generously special-ordered books for me from the “big city” library more than an hour away.

That library was my sanctuary, my intellectual playground, my learning lab.

As with Bob, I consider myself fortunate to earn my living as a writer and speaker – as a purveyor of words.

The influence of books didn't stop there. My sons Tom and Andrew got their first library cards when they were five years old. I still have the picture of the proud day they stood in front of the counter at our little green-shuttered library overlooking the ocean in the small Maui town of Kihei. Both of them have also become speakers and writers – purveyors of words. And it all began in those small literary cathedrals we call libraries.

Jeffrey Naftal, the Director of Human Resources for Prince Georges Library System started that Staff Day in a marvelous way. He read "Thank you" stories that had been submitted by customers. Stories like the woman who walked up to a reference librarian and said, “Do you remember me? You showed me how to do historical research. I’m now a tenured professor at William and Mary because of what you taught me."

There were other moving stories of the pivotal role these librarians had played in teaching people how to read, use a computer, apply for a job, research a school paper.

This week, why not thank a librarian, a teacher, a coach, someone who, as Bob Greene says, “has made your life better, who may believe you’ve forgotten them.”

Follow the wise advice of Mr. Rogers who said, “When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’"

Don't just look for the helpers, thank the helpers in your life by letting them know exactly what they said or did that's had enduring influence on you.

Chances are, it will make their day... and yours.

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Want to meet up with other readers, authors, book-lovers? Check out (library pun:-) our Stop Wishing-Start Writing online community. It's free and open to the public, just like libraries.