On the Front Lines: Librarians

Some of you will find what I am about to say either quite thought-provoking or somewhat dull, yet I assure you everyone will agree and, undoubtedly, believe that it is plain old sucking-up.

Librarians are “On the Front Lines” of an educational downfall. They stand on centuries of tradition, while holding the reins to tomorrow. The greatest achievement mankind has ever accomplished is that of the written word.

But before I continue on, let us start with the history of the written word. A&E, the Art of Entrainment channel, did a poll several years back of the most influential people of all times, and can anyone tell me who was number one?

Gutenberg. Johann Gutenberg: The man who invented the printing press.

In 1452 Gutenberg conceives the very idea that will transform the world, as man once knew it to what we now know by the fabrication of movable type. In his workshop he combines the technologies of the day: paper (which came to Italy from China in the 12th Century), oil-based ink (which came into existences during the 10th Century), and the wine-press (which, in one form or another, has been around before Christ). With these three invention commonly used in the 1400’s, the printing press was born.

No more did men copy word after word on to a scroll, then knowing that that scroll would be obsolete and in need of recopying within just a score of years. Man knew even at that time the word was everything, for without it communication would cease and without communication man would never survive. Tom Brown, a tracker who was taught by Native Americans the ways of the old during his childhood went on to train the Delta Forces and other military branches in his twenties’ and thirties’, said once in an interview that “you hear the old saying, ‘survival of the fittest.’ That’s very true, except when it comes to humans. For humans fittest also means knowledge.”

Knowledge is passed through language. From my mouth into your ears you learn what I know, as I will when you speak. From my pen in through your eyes you learn what I know, as I will when you write.

Throughout record history countless writers have told countless stories upon countless pages weaving countless words bounded within countless books to be read by countless readers for countless hours. The pleasures, the pains, the joys, the sorrows, the intrigues, the disappointments, the challenges, the withdrawals, the loves, the losses, the facts, the lies, and the truths captivate people, for people have written these tales for a reason and that reason is to be, at the day’s close, people themselves.

Going back to my original thesis: Librarians are “On the Front Lines” of an educational downfall.

Neil Gaiman, the novelist of the bestsellers American Gods and Neverwhere and the comic book writer of DC comic series, The Sandman, writes, “You know, I love librarians. I really love librarians. I love librarians when they crusade not to be stereotyped as librarians. I love librarians when they're just doing those magic things that librarians do. I love librarians when they're the only person in a ghost town looking after thousands of books.”

Librarians guard the words of those who came before, those who are present, and those who are soon to arrive. A librarian’s post is one worse than that of the Russian Front (World War II, for those who do not remember) and in some ways more important. If librarians lose the lust for their obligations and lay down their defenses, we have lost our history, our art, our knowledge, quintessentially, our edge, and, mostly, our communication.

Columnist for the New York Times--Wednesday and Friday editions--and author of the bestselling nonfiction books, The Lexus and the Olive Tree and The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, Thomas L. Friedman, wrote for his Wednesday, May the 6th column, “C.E.O.’s M.I.A.,” that “America faces a huge set of challenges if it is going to retain its competitive edge. As a nation we have a mounting education deficit, energy deficit, budget deficit, health care deficit, and ambition deficit.”

You say with puzzled look creeping across your face and a question in your voice, “Ambition deficit?” And I will say to you, “Damn right! And rightly so!” People speak of ambition, but ambition caught a breeze like an autumn leaf that never yet touched the ground.

Somewhere along the way getting this point in our nation’s history, we forgot the importance of respect for those who hold, essentially, our society within the confines of their shelves. Books birth dreams and kindle passions and push imaginations to a realm of absolute possibilities, and we, as Americans, cannot allow for this process of birthing, kindling, and pushing to lessen the pace, as an anchor would a ship coasting aimlessly within the narrow borders of a fjord.

Education is fueled by ambition and ambition by the birthing of dreams and kindling of passions and the pushing of the imagination. While books are the beacon to which ambition is drawn unto, librarians lay out the course of its navigation. No matter how much and often ignorance grapples with our way of life librarians just knuckle down and stands their ground. Librarians are “On the Front Lines” of an educational downfall.


This is a speech I wrote about two weeks ago, because I had to give one for my Fundamental of Speech course. For years now I have believed that librarians have been mistreated--stereotyped in a light unfavorable to their true cause. All I hope for is that you can obtain a newfound respect for librarians. They are the gatekeepers of our reads and, more importantly, our culture.