Old Town

Another view of Albuquerque's 'Old Town';  this one with the ever-present blue window frames.

Today is National Library Workers Day!
Libraries have been in existence since at least 2600 BC! They were found in the temples of Sumer, where the earliest forms of writing were discovered on clay tablets–the predecessors to scrolls, and then books. Since that time, libraries have developed as a hotbed of cultural significance, helping to shape the classical Greek and Roman empires up to the modern age. 

Even though libraries have been around for many centuries, getting access to books has not always been easy. It has been less than 200 years since the opening of the first public library in the United States in 1833. Prior to that time, libraries were privately owned. This meant that books were usually only accessible to the very rich and literacy was a very low priority for the average person. 

Today, publicly funded libraries have great importance because they allow complete access to education for the common person. They hold books that give voice to the ideas, observations, and opinions of people from literally all over the world on basically every topic imaginable. 

And librarians help to maintain this catalog of history. They are the masters of research, keeping their archives, and fostering creativity in the minds of today’s youth. However, due to the global economy, the budgets and salaries used to keep these traditions alive have continued to shrink.
So go check out a book!