How the world sees us.(OPINION)(Quotation).

"Libraries raised me. I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money. ... I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years."

Science fiction author RAY BRADBURY, writing in support of the Ventura County (Calif.) Library, New York Times, June 19.

"Look, if you want a safe job, work in a library."

Moscow crime reporter SERGEI KANEV recalling the dangers of his profession, including an attempted strangulation with a wire earlier this year. "Moscow Crime Reporter, Facing His Obituary Daily," New York Times, June 7.

"A refreshing read in the A/C is just what July requires sometimes ... That's why I love you. Library. You are always thinking of others." Columnist Gwenn Garland, showing thanks to her public library. "Dear Wicomico Library: Why We Think You Are So Top Shelf," Salisbury (Md.) Daily Times, May 28.

"I was studying to be a librarian. ... The next thing we knew, we were running into Jamie Foxx on talk shows." Frontman PETER MOREN of Peter Bjorn and John, about his transition from would-be librarian to rockstar. "Peter Bjorn and John," Interview, May 2009.

"As a kid, I spent every summer bent over a stack of books, obsessively writing detailed reports on each one. I fondly remember the scratchy couches and Freon-cooled bliss of the Lemont [Ill.] Public Library."

Author, screenwriter, and blogger Diablo Cody. "Summer Sucks," Entertainment Weekly, July 24.

"For me it was more fun doing banned book readings than to go to the Playboy Super Bowl Party."

Former Playboy Enterprises CEO Christie Hefner, at the ALA Annual Conference Opening General Session, July 11.

"In lean times and fat times alike, the public library is the one place where it's always OK to overindulge."

Cincinnati Enquirer Editor KRISTA RAMSEY on the value of the library as a resource center and sanctuary. "What Libraries Are Worth to Us," Cincinnati Enquirer, June 1.

"No other civilization, ever, has had anything comparable to our [U.S.] public library system."

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian DAVID MCCULLOUGH touts the value of American public libraries before a reading of his new book at the Vineyard Haven (Mass.) Public Library June 12. "Historian Looks at Americans in Paris," Martha's Vineyard Vineyard Gazette.

Source Citation
"How the world sees us." American Libraries 40.8-9 (2009): 42. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .

Gale Document Number:A208060482