Libraries and Democracy

In order to maintain a healthy and vital democracy, people within the society

need to be literate to understand the happenings within the country. Libraries help the

democracy thrive because it offers many different pieces of literature to inform a citizen

of past history and current events. Schools turn to libraries to help them gather

resources and materials that help teachers urge students to think critically. Libraries

provide new literacy technology which can be accessed to all, such as digital books.

With these new literacy technologies, people can find and support democratic

movement all throughout the world.

Pat Max wrote in his article "On My Mind" that 'Books and reading also make

significant contributions to citizenship.' Libraries provide the tools to help citizens

become literate and therefore people can contribute to society by having the knowledge

to active citizens. 'Libraries play a vital role in making our nation literate, and a literate

nation is the foundation of our democracy,' wrote by Camila Alire in her article called

"Advocacy: Part II." All over the nation a person needs to know how to read in order to

function. There are signs and markers that tell people various things like directions. A

person also needs to be literate in a democracy because it allows a citizen to keep

informed about current events that are happening not only in the nation but also all

around globe.