Enlightenment is in the eye of the beholder

Since college, I've thought that I have characteristics of ADD. As it turns out, perhaps I just have "increasing non-linear reading and declining sustained attention" as described by Ziming Liu (2005, 707). In the course of reading this article--which, yes, I *did* have to print out so that I could highlight and annotate--I opened no fewer than 5 tabs on my Internet browser. I would read about how we now are more likely to read more, but in a less concentrated manner, and the little thought bubble would pop up above my head:

Hey, that's like a news feed aggregator...It makes it possible for us to cover a lot more information, but you don't always read the whole thing--you skim. Hey, I haven't read any of my RSS feeds today. I wonder if my classmates have blogged yet...*click*

Five minutes later, I scold myself for getting distracted, and turn back to the article. Multiply that impulse to check something online by about six, add a few followed links and an email, and...well, now I realize why it takes me so long to read a printed academic article.

Though it sometimes leaves me feeling a little scattered, I think that I synthesize the information better when it inspires me to either check another related resource or actually practice what I've read.

Unfortunately, true to Liu's study, I do have more trouble reading in-depth information now. However, the realm of possibilities just seems so much broader. It's as though everything I read now is just a gateway...too often, I am simply filing the general idea away in my mind, hoping that if I ever need to know about it in the future, I'll be able to remember enough to look it up. Other times, something sparks my interest, and I'm able to skim and browse until I can find a link or book that will give me easily digestible tid-bits, until I feel ready for the in-depth stuff.

This broad realm of possibilities is one of the reasons that I liked the Audunson article so much. Audunson suggests that public libraries serve as an entry way into community participation (2005, 432). When people enter a public library, they usually do so with a specific purpose--e.g. find a book on CD for a car trip, research foundation grants, check out a book on home repair, etc. While there, however, they are exposed to a diverse store-house of ideas, and, even better, a diverse group of people. They walk in for a book on Mac OS, but they also end up browsing the American Indian Resource Center book display. On the walk to the circulation desk, they pass people from all social and economic classes, people of all races and religions, and all ages. As they check out, they pick up an event guide, and notice that the library offers programs such as the Great Decisions lectures.

I feel strongly that such exposure creates a world of opportunity for dialogue and interaction. I'm a modern librarian through and through--that is, I think that "the role of the library is to promote self-realisation by being a cultural animator and by giving people access to a diversity of expressions, not to make judgements and selections" (Audunson 2005, 431). Yet, I feel that promoting self-realisation through access to information inherently creates opportunities for "enlightenment." Am I hoping the library customers will come in for Chilton's Total Car Care and leave with something from the Great Courses series? Hmm...Maybe. Or, maybe I think that fixing your own carburetor can be a step toward enlightenment in its own right.

I guess I'll never be an Andrew Carnegie. As a huge supporter of libraries--helping to establish approximately 2,800--he definitely held the enlightenment point of view. In an Economist book review, "The blackened sheep," the author writes that "Carnegie asserted in 1895 that it was quite wrong for a businessman to listen to entreaties for higher wages when profits soared. Nine out of ten employees would simply fritter any extra money away “upon richer food and drink, better clothing, more extravagant living, which are beneficial neither to rich nor poor”. Far better, he said, to direct the profits toward a great educative institution that lasts for all time" (Economist 2006, 93).

How would Carnegie feel about the graphic novel display that we had up for a while? He probably wouldn't think that it was very "educative." I do hope, however, that he'd be in favor of our adult literacy department. Talk about educative. Of course, we aim our instruction toward the student's goals, without judging the "value" of that goal...but, we know that we are creating greater opportunities for that student to participate in the community. Passing the driver's license exam today might mean a better job for tomorrow, a better educated family for the future, and, yes, a more informed group of voters. Audunson says that "one needs structures that allow for a gradual introduction into the community in question," (2005, 432). Libraries can definitely fill that role, but up to 43% of adults in America are in need of reading or English-speaking help as part of that "gradual introduction" (National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 2003).