This week is National Library Week. This is the time to take the opportunity to thank your local librarian or to have your community become involved in your local library. I grew up two doors down from a library, so I’ve spent many, many days curled up in a corner of the library, with my nose in a book, capturing an imaginative moment with each page I turned. My librarian, Mrs. Zoch, who has since passed away, would help me find the perfect book to captivate my attention. I’m deeply thankful to her in helping me get to where I am today. Because of her, I found a love for books. And because of that, I have become a published author for children. I find the use of imagination helpful in creative thinking.

Literacy is an important tool in a person’s life. It helps in our advancement in the workplace. It helps us obtain the right jobs for us. As a blooming anthropologist, I’ll be spending many hours in a library, amongst the research materials, trying to uncover the mystery behind whatever group of people I’ll be writing about. Libraries play a crucial role in my job. For years I’ve been working on my genealogy and have noticed that everything isn’t found on the internet. I spent an entire day on vacation, researching my genealogy at a library in Georgia. They have a room that is specifically for ancestry.

I stared into the library from the doorway and was captivated by the numerous shelves full of records, books, journals, newspapers, and other items, as well as several shelves full of film. None of these items would be found on the internet. After several roles of film, then thumbing through a few records, I found some important documents on a couple of my grandparents. I had searched for years on the internet for these documents, only to find them from taking a trip to Georgia from Arkansas. I actually went to Georgia to visit with my sister and some cousins of ours, but once I learned about the library in Macon, Georgia, I had to make a trip.