“…by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we lik’d to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.” Ben Franklin.
People ask me quite often how I am able to churn out so much material each week, especially, while facing the Sword of Damocles in the form of cancer hanging over like a really bad night featuring tequilla and wine together.
The truth is, I am simply a curious person, and what I learn, I like to write down. I have always felt the unofficial motto of the writer should not be, “Write what you know,” but rather, “Write what you learn.”
That way, you are sharing information instead of spouting it. After all, no one likes a know-it-all.
It would be easy to simply say that the internet is what gives me the ability to conduct so much research for history columns and automotive articles while also writing about invasive species, medical breakthroughs and the latest shenanigans at city hall.
When looking for things like property deeds, old newspaper articles or Supreme Court decisions, the internet is quite handy, and I suppose if you look hard enough, you could determine the correct ignition timing for a 1955 Chevy Bel Air with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor.
The truth is, most of the time spent on the internet is wasted plowing through the tons of misinformation, quotes taken out of context and fodder for someone’s article, but not mine.
My secret is that I use the county library often.
Many of the sources I use to research Augusta history are long out of print. I had to shell out $150 for Ed Cashin’s “The Story of Augusta.” While that is a book that I use often, I can’t pay to stock my personal library with his entire collection of works or those of the other great local writers whose stuff is no longer in print.
I might use a celebrity quote in an automotive column from Jay Leno, who has one of the largest private collections of classic cars in the world, but I really don’t care what Ed Begley Jr. or Richard Gere have to say about EVs on TMZ’s newsfeed.
If I want to find out the latest on Jay Leno and cars or just cars in general, then I have to follow the hobby magazines, and all of those mags require subscriptions, which add up quickly.
The best and most popular databases to access peer-reviewed studies and other nerdy reading also require subscriptions. But the library has GALILEO, Georgia’s Virtual Library, where much of that material can be accessed for free. By using the library, I save myself, and the company hundreds of dollars a month.
The library also offers free Wifi, so I don’t have to feel pressured to shell out $12.50 on a frappa-rapa-double espresso caramel iced latte or $8.50 for a cup full of ice and orange juice that took a trip around the blender together.
What makes it even cooler is that I am lucky to live down the road from the library. I could ride a golf cart, if that were legal, to the library. It is that close.
Because I am there so often, I can attest that the library is, bar-none, the most underutilized public amenity in Columbia County, and that is why I paid attention when several librarians got up and quit.
I called and talked with County Administrator Scott Johnson, and his response was that the librarians in question didn’t agree with the new placement guidelines set forth by the commission, and they chose to leave rather than comply with the rules.
Johnson explained to me what the commission was trying to accomplish, and that was to try and appease both the LGBTQ+ supporters and the conservative Christians by not giving in to either.
Well, that backfired!
What this means for those of us who actually use the library is longer wait times to get help. I have never had an issue or problem with getting help from the staff, but when everyone is looking for something obscure like Frances Butler Leigh’s book, “Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the War,” there are only so many staff members available.
Believe it or not, people who are certified librarians aren’t likely to be found at the corner temp agency. In fact, they are becoming as rare as hens-teeth.
I am not laying the blame on the commission. They were thrown a flaming potato. The blame lies with the shrill people on both sides who had to go and make the library a divisive political issue.
While I am not the most observant person when I am using the library, I would probably notice if the shrillest among them actually used the library on any other occasion than to find something to pick a fight about.
In my opinion, people who go to meetings and taunt elected leaders by calling them fascists and Nazis, ought to be ridiculed, not appeased.
Hope ya’ll are happy!
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, Editorial Page Editor and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
