Sanctuary: Now 150 years old
Happy Birthday Sacramento Public Library! 150 years old and celebrating it this weekend.
I’m not especially religious, but if I was, my church would be the library. I go every week (yes, really) and every week I am inspired, soothed, and excited about something I saw at the library.
Libraries are the last great sanctuary, and librarians are its keepers. My boss, after reading another depressing political article and a response from the ALA, recently told me, “Librarians will save the country!”
I would have to agree. Congratulations to all the local librarians, active and retired. You have earned this Sacramentan’s respect.
All I can do is shout out an “Amen!” to that. I grew up in libraries too (the old Carmichael library and the Roseville and Citrus Heights branches)and know the nice feeling of being surrounded by books. I find myself in libraries an awful lot these days, and consider myself lucky to work a block from the Central Library where I can run over and get my bookfix if I need it.
I went to the library celebration for a while, heard Steven Avella (who wrote “Sacramento: Indomitable City,” a slim volume but probably the best overall book on Sacramento’s history) and recently retired SAMCC manager and historian Jim Henley talk about local history, plus a jaunt to the Sacramento Room to see some of the neat stuff from the vaults.