By Sandra B.
My father grew up in a coal mining community where most of his siblings only graduated 8th grade. He was determined that his children would be educated and, as the first-born, I learned how to read and write very young. Not long after I turned 3, my father took me to the Chicago public library where I applied for my first library card and signed for it myself. I’m not certain whether the librarian was delighted or considered me to be precocious, but I’ve spent a life using my library card to discover worlds beyond my own and teaching my children to value the library system. We’ve taken advantage of borrowing books, participating in summer reading programs, doing research, obtaining passports, and just spending quiet afternoons reading at our library. Times certainly have changed since I signed for my first library card, but I was thrilled when not long ago my 3 1/2-year-old granddaughter called me and said, “Mimi, I signed up for my library card today!” Another generation of library lovers is born!Supreme