Public Library Fills Educational Need
* In 1960, as a fledgling social worker in Chicago, I was counseling a 10-year-old black girl just arrived from Alabama. Rita was full of curiosity and energy, but also fearful and depressed. The school said she was at risk for failure.
As we talked, I suggested she go to the library. She looked at me in astonishment. “They wouldn’t let me in there,” she said.
Equally astonished, I said they would. “We will go and you can see.”
Hand in hand, we went to the library, two blocks from her home, beginning her journey of joy.
Rita grew up and became a registered nurse.
But what if there had been no public library?
ANNE W. MITCHELL
Ventura
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