Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Illiteracy Affects Everyone

When people talk about how to reduce crime, they often miss one major factor: illiteracy. The nation's prisons are filled with men and women who can barely write their names.

Illiteracy is a problem that affects everyone, perhaps not directly, but indirectly through high crime and lost productivity.

Being able to read is a basic survival skill in today's information society, but it is no longer enough. Our children must also be able to navigate the information superhighway if they are to succeed in the 21st century.

Fortunately, this is a problem everyone can do something about. The best way is to make readers of all children. Thanks to libraries, every parent can give their child the key to success, a library card.

Parents who can't read (and those who can) may take advantage of preschool story hours and other programs to help them share books with their children. There are also programs to help parents learn about computers and how they can help their children use them.

This year's National Library Week celebrates the many ways libraries serve the nation's children with the theme "Kids Connect @ the Library."

The Nevada County Library has set a goal to get as many children into libraries as early and often as possible so they can connect with a wonderful world of learning, imagination and adventure through books, computers and other resources.

The library urges every parent, neighbor or caregiver to think of the library the next time you're looking for something fun and interesting to do with a child.

You can check out the new books, find games to play and read magazines. While you're there, ask Helen Miller, the librarian, what you can do to make the library an even better place.