By AMY MANN
Technical Assistant, Warsaw Community Public Library

Public libraries serve as a testament to the human quest for knowledge. The ancient Greeks promoted that thirst with large private and public book repositories. Aristotle’s Great Library of Alexandria began as a private collection, but became public, to a degree. The rub was that it was open only to those with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications.

Let’s move from 300 B.C. to America in the 1730s. No public libraries existed. Only the very wealthy and the clergy had access to large numbers of books. Enter Benjamin Franklin and the Library Company of Philadelphia. In July of 1731, Franklin and the Junto, a philosophical association, pledged to combine their resources to make books available. Works were donated and purchased, and shared with 50 subscribers, members of the group, who had each invested 40 shillings each. This was a start, but still left the average citizen without the knowledge in written form which many of us take for granted today.

The year 1876 is an important date in the history of libraries in the United States. The American Library Association was formed, and Melvil Dewey published his classification system. Women’s clubs championed libraries in the post-Civil War years, contributing their own collections of books, lobbying in their communities, and raising funds.

Fast-forward to 2015. The Warsaw Community Public Library, which was originally donated by Andrew Carnegie’s foundation, is underwritten by our taxes, and maintained as a free, public lending library. We as taxpaying citizens have access to books, media, computers, meeting spaces, programs, and the expertise of the employees of our library. We also have a responsibility to support this cornerstone of our community. This is our library. Let’s appreciate it.