The Underserved
Following on this wonderful essay about cannibalistic llamas (I told you! …right?) Chuck Wendig wrote about the underserved. I used to work at the public library. Libraries are of course where the books live but that’s only a part of what they do and one of the things they do is a very important function called: serving the underserved population. (Note: underserved, not undeserved.) I specifically worked with a department whose goal was to find the folks the library Just Plain Wasn’t Talking To and then Talk To Them. Are we helping blind people? We’re helping children, but are we helping seniors? What about African-Americans? Or people trapped in low-income brackets? And so on. I am lucky enough to live in an area with an exceptional public library system. I’ve seen that they do this too. I count myself blessed to have many librarians as friends, both here and around the country. They also do this. It’s not just a directive from on high for librarians, it’s a life choice. It’s one part of what makes librarians super-heroes in my book. You know I’m going to tie this in to what TDP is doing, right?