Great Escape: Read a Good Book During National Library Card Month

Back in the 1980s there was a song that said video killed the radio star. Is technology striking again in the form of e-readers, making good old-fashioned "paper" books obsolete? 

Not if your public library system can help it! 

Libraries, with real paper books, are alive and well. Witness the many local library branches including and Cleveland Heights, which have adapted to the latest technological advances and even have plans for future expansion.  A library is much more than books; it is part of the fabric of a community and one of America’s greatest social institutions. 

Neighborhood libraries have myriad of activities, meetings, clubs, and classes in addition to a vast collection and abundant computer access for every age from toddler to octogenarian, and gone are the days of shushing and tomblike silence. You can talk — even play games — at the library these days. 

Ben Franklin first came up with concept of a lending library in the 18th century, and the Boston Public Library in Massachusetts was the first to open and allow people to borrow books. Anyone from a snot-nosed street urchin to the Boston Back Bay aristocracy could take home a book to read.  

Now do you really want to snub the memory of a Founding Father? 

While I will consent that e-readers are terrific for travel — I recently lugged two hardcovers on vacation while my husband simply "loaded" up his Kindle — there is nothing like the smell of a book, the draw of a provocative cover, the crackle of a new binding, and the plethora of information that a librarian can provide on any number of subjects. 

September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month, so it’s the perfect time to dust off your card or apply for a new one; it’s a passport to more great escapes than I could ever write.