Earlier this month, I spent Storytime at the Reynolda Manor Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library in Winston-Salem. I read to a crowd of eager young library fans, and we had a ball!
As Secretary of Cultural Resources, I oversee the State Library, which works with public libraries around North Carolina. Summer reading programs have just concluded at our public libraries, but there are lots of activities year-round – free, fun, educational programs that cover art, music, and history, along with other reading activities.
Libraries are important community gathering places, and have also become portals for information about job hunting skills, resumes, and other things that our citizens are hungry for. The State Library tells me that libraries are busier than ever helping patrons of all ages.
If the late, great Dr. Seuss had been a North Carolinian, he might have said:
In North Carolina, we love to read.
Kids and grownups love to read indeed.
Libraries, it can be agreed
Will grow our future at lightning speed.
So, volunteer to read, fill a need, plant a seed.
That’s how we’ll succeed.
