Contributed commentary by Dr. Zachary Barnes, assistant professor of special education, Department of Teaching and Learning, Austin Peay State University
As construction is well underway for the new library branch in our community, I am reminded that President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed “Democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of utilizing them.” The investment undertaken by Montgomery County is more than just a new building; it shows a priority to increase reading in our county.
Public libraries are truly a gift to communities across the country and the world. Jason Reynolds is a best-selling author and former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He believes that “libraries are places for everybody, not just the bookworms, not just the students, the scholars, or people coming in to find information. Libraries are places that are safe and accepting of the community despite what you come into the library to do. They feel more like community centers, and they feel sacred, as sort of worship centers to me.” By providing an additional library in Clarksville, we are building an additional place for our community to gather. This new library will also support the current and future children by providing an additional space to access books, community events and information.
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A recent study published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy found that large-scale investments in local libraries, like what we are seeing with this new branch, significantly increases overall library usage, but this is especially pronounced in children. More importantly, there is an increase in children attending events at the library and more children’s material being checked out. This increase is exactly what we hope to see here in Clarksville.
The most surprising finding of the study was a small increase in reading test scores in the surrounding areas. This increase makes sense, though, for a variety of reasons. One, there is evidence that families who visit libraries are more likely to read aloud to their children, a critically important early literacy practice. Family literacy practices are linked to later academic achievement, so having more families engaged in libraries may increase effective literacy practices at home. Two, as more students visit the library to engage in high-quality literacy activities, they are more interested and engaged in the reading process. Children see others checking out books, and they want to be part of that. So, children get more books and read more books. That is exactly what we want children to be doing. We need more kids falling in love with reading.
Federal data show that fewer teenagers are reading for pleasure than ever before, dropping consistently over the past few decades. We must work together to inspire the love of reading, both through our educational system and community. As the county prepares to open the new branch, let’s continue to be a community of readers by visiting our library, checking out books, and attending all the wonderful events that the library hosts. By building this new library branch, we could be helping more Clarksville children fall in love with reading.
Zachary Barnes
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