Crashing beams, metallic snaps and thunderclap booms. The chaotic sound of the Palmer library roof collapsing blackened the one building open to all members of the community. One month on, no plan has emerged to rebuild.
I have that plan. Alaska should offer specialty license plates that promote reading and dedicate those funds to rebuilding the library.
Kentucky has such plates. They are simple, direct and well-designed.
Most likely, those funds would fall well short of what’s needed, but it would at least start raising awareness and create momentum. Bumper stickers, charity concerts and donation drives would help. These grassroots efforts spread by word of mouth and create the necessary support for city funds. Libraries don’t rebuild themselves, it is our responsibility to do what it takes to make it happen.
Libraries are also more than just books and computers. They are public spaces dedicated to learning, art and civic engagement. A well-designed library can inspire Alaska’s future thinkers, scientists and leaders. Anybody who has spent hours cloistered in a library’s corners studying knows this to be true, that it is a refuge from the noise of the outside world.
Now think, nature’s fury could just as easily have struck anyone — four Anchorage properties also suffered this fate. That it happened to a public building is symbolic. Why? Because this is also about a theory of government, that governments exist to solve problems that require a collective effort. Sure, one extraordinary person could conceivably save the day and donate the funds needed to build a new library, but to date that has not happened. This is a specific problem that requires both individual leadership and collective support. Libraries are built all the time; there is absolutely no reason why we should just sit around and wait for it to happen.
—Brian Nelson
Palmer
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.