Published Letter to the Editor: "Libraries support all of us; we should support them". October 9, 2025

I am sharing a copy of my library-themed 10/9/25 Letter to the Editor that was published in the print versions and the digital versions of the Oil City (PA) paper The Derrick and the Franklin (PA) Times-Union newspapers in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The two newspapers share the same Monday-Saturday content under their own banners for each city. I wrote my letter in response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor written by a Cranberry (Township) resident (not to be confused with the Cranberry in Butler County); I've copied the writer's letter below, after mine. Note: The typo at the start of the newspapers' copy of my letter was the fault of the paper and was not in the letter I emailed to them.

 

I was pleased that the newspapers did not make any changes to the prose. However, they did alter my web links: rather than including the precise websites within, say, Pew Research or ALA, they only provided the homepage; this may be part of their editorial policy. I provided links to evidence/authoritative data to support my points and research and rebut the assertions of the letter writer.

They also omitted my PhD and JD degrees I'd included after my name in the version I sent to them.

Letters to the Editor at these newspapers are limited to no more than 350 words. My submission was 346 words.

The newspapers unfortunately have a digital paywall that precludes free access to even one newspaper item, but this is the digital link to my letter: https://www.thederrick.com/opinion/letter-libraries-support-all-of-us-we-should-support-them/article_8fe1adc8-1dd5-48bf-9ac7-711dfe14d7fe.html 

LETTER: Libraries support all of us; we should support them

October 9, 2025

 

Editor,

This is in response to the Sept. 26 letter to the editor titled “Tax proposal needs to ‘die’ with the library” by Betty M. Hepler.

The author could not be more wrong or misinformed about the state of American libraries and the value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are vital necessities and community anchors in towns and cities throughout this nation. See www.pewresearch.org.

1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities — from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See www.ala.org.

2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries economically benefit businesses that are located nearby. See www.imls.gov.

3. Research data also show that libraries are a good “return on investment” (ROI): for every dollar of support to a library, library users are able to save hundreds of dollars by checking out thousands of books, movies, video games, and more, at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com.

4. Today’s libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services — story time for kids, book discussion groups for teens and seniors, access to free WiFi and computers, and classes and webinars on topics like “where to find jobs,” “starting your own business” and “how to use AI chatbots.” See https://action.everylibrary.org.

5. Libraries have been a foundational part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives; enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays; and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.

Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt and evolve in order to survive and thrive.

Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let’s take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org.

Long live the library!

— Kip Currier,

Emlenton

 

 

LETTER: Tax proposal needs to 'die' with the library

• Sep 26, 2025

 

Editor,

I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory — the library. We have been propping them up for decades.

The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.

Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.

The overburdened taxpayers of this country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.

On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties, for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.

Let it die!

Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.

— Betty M. Hepler,

Cranberry

Letters to The Derrick (Oil City, PA) - The News-Herald (Franklin, PA), September 26, 2025

Betty M, Hepler, Letters to The Derrick (Oil City, PA) - The News-Herald (Franklin, PA), September 26, 2025; Tax proposal needs to 'die' with the library

[Kip Currier: The following is my response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor (see transcribed letter below) in The Derrick and The News-Herald newspapers that serve the Oil City and Franklin areas in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

"Libraries support all of us -- and need our support too!"

The "Letter to the Editor" transcribed below could not be more wrong or misguided about the state of American libraries and the incredible value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are a vital necessity and community anchor in towns and cities throughout this entire nation. (See https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/06/21/millennials-are-the-most-likely-generation-of-americans-to-use-public-libraries/) :

1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities -- from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/workforce 

2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries are economically beneficial to businesses that are located nearby. See https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/evaluations-research-studies/public-libraries-role-workforce-small-business-development

3. Research studies also show that libraries are a very good "return on investment" (ROI): 

for every dollar of support to a library, users of libraries are able to save hundreds of dollars by being able to check out and use thousands of books, movies, songs, videogames, and more that a library provides to users at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com/LibraryStatistics/PublicLibraryROI

4. Today's libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services -- like storytime for kids; book discussion groups for teens, adults, and seniors; access to free WiFi and computers; and in-person classes and virtual webinars on topics like “where to find jobs”, "starting your own business", and “how to use AI chatbots”. See https://action.everylibrary.org/creative_library_programs_you_don_t_know_about

5. Libraries have been a part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives, enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays, and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.

Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt, and evolve in order to survive and thrive. Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let's take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org/future/trends

Long live the library!]

[Letter transcribed (under a copyright law fair use rationale of commentary purpose) because newspaper paywall prevents access without a subscription]

Betty M. Hepler, Cranberry

Editor, I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory -- the library. We have been propping them up for decades.

The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.

Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.

The overburdened taxpayers of the country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.

On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.

Let it die!

Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.

E-books are on the line as Congress considers future of library funding; USA TODAY, July 29, 2025

 Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY ; E-books are on the line as Congress considers future of library funding

[Kip Currier: Why is it okay for Trump and members of the GOP to secretly fund nearly a billion dollars to retrofit a Qatari plane, but it's not okay with them for public libraries to continue to receive IMLS grants that provide access to books, summer reading programs, and services that promote literacy and educated work forces? 

There's something fundamentally unethical -- and adverse to the common good -- about supporting measures that give billionaires more and more money, while cutting funds to museums and libraries that improve the lives of millions of Americans every day.

If you care about reading, education, libraries, and museums, let your legislators know NOW!]

[Excerpt]

"States' libraries to lose as much as half their funding

The Institute for Museum and Library Services, a tiny, little-known federal agency, provides grants to states that account for 30% to 50% of state library budgets, according to the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies.

For decades it has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved funds through grants to state libraries in all 50 states and Washington, DC, and to library, museum and archives programs. It serves 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries across the country, according to its website.

The impact of losing the money will be different in each state because each spends its portion of the funding differently.

Some will have to fire staff and end tutoring and summer reading programs. Others will cut access to electronic databases, end intra-library loans or reduce access to books for the deaf and blind. Many will have to stop providing internet service for rural libraries or e-book access statewide.

With the expectation that Congress won't buck Trump and fund the museum and library services institute, the future of these backbone "compassionate" library services is now under discussion across the nation, said John Chrastka, founder of EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that organizes grassroot campaigns for library funding and blocking book bans."

Enslaved Black Children Were Educated Here. Now the Public Can Learn the History.; The New York Times, June 19, 2025

Audra D. S. Burch , The New York Times; Enslaved Black Children Were Educated Here. Now the Public Can Learn the History.

"Since the discovery, the Bray School has been fully restored. It will open to the public on Thursday — Juneteenth — in Colonial Williamsburg, where it was relocated in 2023 to be preserved. The space will give visitors a sense of the lives of the students, and the museum will scrutinize, through interpreters, the mission of the school, which not only taught the children church doctrine and reading but sought to “convince enslaved students to accept their circumstances as divinely ordained,” according to the museum’s website.

The opening of the school comes at a particularly fraught time in the United States as Black history, diversity and established historical narratives are being challenged, sanitized or even erased. Its story also unlocks another layer of the historic city, whose identity is shaped, in part, by its role in the American Revolution. Located in the coastal Tidewater region, Williamsburg was once the capital of the British colony of Virginia. The city is a unique place to examine colonial life — including slavery — and the nation’s founding ideals...

“I always knew there were pieces missing from the story of Blacks here in Williamsburg,” said Janice Canaday, who traces her family to Elisha and Mary Jones, who attended the Bray School in 1762 as free students. Ms. Canaday works as Colonial Williamsburg’s African American community engagement manager, and said she often thought about the children. “I wonder what songs they sang.” she said, “Did they go home, wherever home was, and share what they learned? Did they look out the window and somehow see hope?”...

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which owns and operates the museum, has been accused of both presenting a whitewashed version of the colonial period and of going “woke” by making the 18th-century storytelling more inclusive."

‘It reminds you of a fascist state’: Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history; The Guardian, March 30, 2025

 David Smith, The Guardian; ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’: Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history

"The US president, who has sought to root out “wokeness” since returning to power in January, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite history on issues of race and gender. In an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”, he directed the removal of “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” from its storied museums.

The move was met with dismay from historians who saw it as an attempt to whitewash the past and suppress discussions of systemic racism and social justice. With Trump having also taken over the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, there are fears that, in authoritarian fashion, he is aiming to control the future by controlling the past.

“It is a five-alarm fire for public history, science and education in America,” said Samuel Redman, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst."

Why an equity lens is critical in the design and deployment of AI; Brookings, December 9, 2024

Brookings; Why an equity lens is critical in the design and deployment of AI

"In 2023, the Center for Technology Innovation (CTI) at Brookings launched the AI Equity Lab, an interdisciplinary, cross-sector research and policy project aimed at finding solutions that lead to more inclusive artificial intelligence. Since its inception, the AI Equity Lab has engaged more than 60 distinguished experts who understand the intersection between AI and society to collaboratively assess and determine the opportunities and risks AI presents in critical areas, including education, health care, journalism, and criminal justice.   

On December 9, join the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings for an event with CTI Director and AI Equity Lab co-chair Nicol Turner Lee, who will provide an update on the work of the Lab and moderate a panel of experts who will share more about their findings and discuss why the framing of equity in human-centered AI is critical to advancing more democratized and ethical models." 

A Macon day camp introduces kids to the ethics of AI; Georgia Public Broadcasting, July 1, 2024

 

• Taleen Hanna, Georgia Public Broadcasting; A Macon day camp introduces kids to the ethics of AI

"Young children today may never know a time without AI.  So how do you teach kids to use AI effectively — and ethically? That was the focus of a June day camp for middle schoolers in Macon. GPB's Taleen Hanna has more.

“With the existing workforce, AI is going to take over so much of the customer service or tech support,” Finkelstein said. “So should we not use AI just for the sake of giving more people jobs?”

The students began to think it through out loud, but they really had no clear answer. Just getting them to think it through achieved some of Finkelstein’s aim. 

Artificial intelligence has worked its way into our everyday lives, whether we like it or not. Kids today may never know a time without AI, so how do you teach them to use it effectively and even ethically?

That question was at the heart of a day camp in June hosted at Mercer University in Macon, and spearheaded by Finkelstein."

Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race.; The New York Times, June 28, 2024

 THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, The New York Times; Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race.

"We are at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution that is going to change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE — how we work, how we learn, how we teach, how we trade, how we invent, how we collaborate, how we fight wars, how we commit crimes and how we fight crimes. Maybe I missed it, but I did not hear the phrase “artificial intelligence” mentioned by either man at the debate."

University Librarians See Urgent Need for AI Ethics; Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2024

  Lauren Coffey, Inside Higher Ed; University Librarians See Urgent Need for AI Ethics

"Nearly three-quarters of university librarians say there’s an urgent need to address artificial intelligence’s ethical and privacy concerns, a survey finds.

Roughly half the librarians surveyed said they had a “moderate” understanding of AI concepts and principles, according to the study released Friday. About one in five said they had a slightly below moderate understanding, and roughly the same amount had a slightly above moderate understanding. Only 3 percent of respondents said they had a “very high” understanding.

The study, conducted in May 2023 by Leo Lo, president-elect of the Association of College and Research Libraries, had 605 respondents who completed the survey. Of those, 45 percent worked in research institutions and 30 percent in institutions with undergraduate and graduate programming."

Using AI Responsibly; American Libraries, January 21, 2024

Diana Panuncial , American Libraries; Using AI Responsibly

"Navigating misinformation and weighing ethical and privacy issues in artificial intelligence (AI) were top of mind for the panelists at “AI and Libraries: A Discussion on the Future,” a January 21 session at the American Library Association’s 2024 LibLearnX Conference in Baltimore. Flowers was joined by Virginia Cononie, assistant librarian and coordinator of research at University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg; Dray MacFarlane, cofounder of Tasio, an AI consulting company; and Juan Rubio, digital media learning program manager for Seattle Public Library (SPL). 

Rubio, who used AI to create a tool to help teens at SPL reflect on their mental health and well-being, said there is excitement behind the technology and how it can be harnessed, but there should also be efforts to educate patrons on how to use it responsibly. 

“I think ethical use of AI comes with creating ethical people,” he said, adding that SPL has been thinking about implementing guidelines for using AI. “Be very aware of your positionality [as librarians], because I think we are in a place of privilege—not necessarily of money or power, but of knowledge.”"

Prison Is a Dangerous Place for LGBTQ+ People. I Made a Safe Space in the Library.; The Marshall Project, November 3, 2023

MICHAEL SHANE HALE, The Marshall Project; Prison Is a Dangerous Place for LGBTQ+ People. I Made a Safe Space in the Library.

"And because queer people have a way of finding spaces that resonate with us, word has spread. Everyone knows that our library has a spot off by itself, waiting to hug the next LGBTQ+ person with stories of acceptance and belonging.

Michael Shane Hale has served nearly 30 years of a 50-years-to-life sentence and is working through the trauma he has experienced and created. Inspired by the many kindnesses that people in his life have afforded him, he hopes to continue his education. This includes pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience and machine learning."

With War Raging, Colleges Confront a Crisis of Their Own Making; The New York Times, October 26, 2023

 Frank Bruni, The New York Times; With War Raging, Colleges Confront a Crisis of Their Own Making

"Remember the student complaints about and the subsequent dismissal of an art history lecturer at Hamline University in Minnesota who — after giving students a trigger warning, so they could opt out of class — showed a historically important painting of the Prophet Muhammad? Hamline’s president, Fayneese Miller, defended that sequence of events by saying that to not weigh academic freedom against a “debt to the traditions, beliefs and views of students” is a “privileged reaction.” 

That’s a troubling assertion, as Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic: “If you don’t want your traditions, beliefs or views challenged, then don’t come to a university, at least not to study anything in the humanities or the social sciences.”"

As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil; Salon, October 13, 2023

EVELYN NIEVES, Salon; As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil

"What began in Florida in 2021 with three conservative women (two former school board members from neighboring counties and a current school board member) now claims 130,000 members in 300 chapters in 47 states. ...

But Liz Mikitarian, a retired Brevard County, Florida, kindergarten teacher and founder of STOP Moms for Liberty, says she tried seeking common ground with the group for a year. She posted comments on Moms for Liberty’s Facebook page. “I was looking for dialogue,” she said. “They weren’t interested.”

Mikitarian knew one of Moms for Liberty’s founders, Tina Descovich, who had been on the Brevard County school board before losing her seat in 2020. The connection didn’t help.

She says she attended increasingly unruly school board meetings as Moms for Liberty jelled. “They were saying they were seeing things in classrooms that were not going on,” Mikitarian said. When she objected, she said, things got ugly.

She says she was mocked and doxxed. “They started calling me a pedophile supporter. It was nuts. And I thought to myself: What is going on? Are there other people feeling this is a straight-out attack on public education? That’s when I started STOP Moms for Liberty.”

The group, she said, now has chapters in over 40 states. Unlike Moms for Liberty, STOP Moms is unincorporated and has no paid staff or funding. Its growth, Mikitarian said, has come through social media."

WHAT ELSE DO PARENTS WHO BELIEVE LIBRARIANS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS THINK?; Book Riot, October 13, 2023

Kelly Jensen , Book Riot; WHAT ELSE DO PARENTS WHO BELIEVE LIBRARIANS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS THINK?

"Book Riot and EveryLibrary have teamed up to execute a series of surveys exploring parental perceptions of libraries, and our first data sets were released at the end of September. These specifically explore the ways parents perceive public libraries...

While most parents have no idea how librarians choose the books in the collection (53%), and most also believe librarians should be responsible for collection development and maintenance (58%), one of the most surprising findings was that fully one-quarter of respondents believed librarians should be prosecuted for giving children access to materials...

People who do not know how librarians select material are much more likely to also believe librarians should be prosecuted for that material. This is chilling, to say the least. It’s also an important point to emphasize for library workers. Where and how do you educate your patrons about the process behind the acquisition of books, movies, and other collection items? If this demographic who somewhat or wholly believes librarians should be prosecuted for materials is your average or above average user, there is a lot of opportunity — maybe even necessity — for education."

What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.; Teachers College, Columbia University, September 6, 2023

Morgan Gilbard , Teachers College, Columbia University; What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.

"What Could Happen Next?

American schools stand at a critical inflection point, and amid this heated debate, Rebell sees civil discourse at school board meetings as a paramount starting point for any sort of resolution. “This mounting crisis can serve as a motivator to bring people together to try to deal with our differences in respectful ways and to see how much common ground can be found on the importance of exposing all of our students to a broad range of ideas and experiences,” says Rebell. “Carve-outs can also be found for allowing parents who feel really strongly that certain content is inconsistent with their religious or other values to exempt their children from certain content without limiting the options for other children.”

But students, families and educators also have the opportunity to speak out, explains Douglass, who expressed concern for how her own daughter is affected by book bans. 

“I’d like to see a groundswell movement to reclaim the nation's commitment to education — to recognize that we're experiencing growing pains and changes in terms of what we stand for; and whether or not we want to live up to the democratic ideal of freedom of speech; different ideas in the marketplace, and a commitment to civics education and political participation,” says Douglass. 

As publishers and librarians file lawsuits to push back, students are also mobilizing to protest bans — from Texas to western New York and elsewhere. But as more local battles unfold, bigger issues remain unsolved. 

“We need to have a conversation as a nation about healing; about being able to confront the past; about receiving an apology and beginning that process of reconciliation,” says Douglass. “Until we tackle that head on, we'll continue to have these types of battles.”"

A Moral Panic: ChatGPT and the Gamification of Education; Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, February 6, 2023

Susan Kennedy, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University; A Moral Panic: ChatGPT and the Gamification of Education

"Surprisingly, the panic over ChatGPT doesn’t actually seem to be about ChatGPT. It’s not all that impressive, nor is it significantly more effective than the “old ways” of cheating. Instead, the panic seems to be fueled by the expectation that students won’t be able to resist the temptation to use it and that cheating will become rampant. The release of ChatGPT is forcing educators to confront a much deeper issue that has been taking shape for quite some time; students who are becoming increasingly obsessed with grades, GPAs, and completing a degree, and who are willing to go to great, and sometimes unethical, lengths to achieve these things. 

This transformation that is taking place is best explained by the gamification of education. Gamification refers to the process of adding game-like elements, such as points, scores, rankings and badges, to make non-game activities more pleasurable. As philosopher C. Thi Nguyen has argued, part of what makes gamification so appealing is that it trades complexity for simplicity. Our values and goals become much clearer once we have quantified metrics for measuring our progress and success.

In education, gamification takes the form of metrics like exam scores, course grades, GPA, and the completion of a degree. Without these metrics in place, it would be difficult to know when one has made progress towards, or been successful in, their pursuit of the true values of education. After all, the values associated with a good education are diverse and complex, including personal transformation, the cultivation of skills, exposure to diverse worldviews, becoming a more informed citizen, etc. Gamification offers some relief from this complexity by providing unmistakable metrics for success.

The problem with gamification is that, over time, it can transform our values and the very nature of the activity such that we begin to lose sight of what really matters. When students enter college, they may be motivated by a meaningful set of values that can be realized in the context of education. For some students, their grades and GPA are just a useful means to measure their progress towards those goals. But for other students, their values wind up being replaced by these metrics such that “getting an A” or “graduating with a 4.0” becomes the end. 

For the students who get swept up by gamification, ChatGPT is unlikely to strike them as morally wrong or problematic. If a student no longer values education for its own sake, then there would seem to be nothing to lose by using ChatGPT. They won’t see it as cheating themselves out of an education, but merely an easy avenue for a passing grade in a course or completing a college degree. When framed this way, the panic over ChatGPT starts to make a lot more sense. Educators are afraid because they know that, despite their best efforts to adapt their assessments to promote learning outcomes in the face of ChatGPT, these efforts will fall short until they can loosen the grip that gamification has on their students."

Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach; The New York Times, January 16, 2023

Kalley Huang, The New York Times ; Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach

"In higher education, colleges and universities have been reluctant to ban the A.I. tool because administrators doubt the move would be effective and they don’t want to infringe on academic freedom. That means the way people teach is changing instead."

At Pitt, war or not, Russian and Ukrainian cultures share a bond; PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, February 26, 2022

BILL SCHACKNER,  PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE; At Pitt, war or not, Russian and Ukrainian cultures share a bond

Immigrants who helped build the 'Steel city' are part of famed Nationality Rooms

[Kip Currier: An uplifting, poignant article, amidst the wrenching scenes emanating from an under-siege Ukraine.

The Nationality Rooms (more aptly, Classrooms) are one of the United States' truly singular treasures -- at the nexus of cultures and education -- and are my favorite place to take visitors, having had the privilege of serving as a Quo Vadis student organization volunteer tour guide for these architectural marvels during my undergraduate years at Pitt.]

"The Russian room, dedicated in 1938, and the Ukrainian room, dating to 1990, are historical treasures. But just as important, they are functioning classrooms at the University of Pittsburgh — part of the Cathedral of Learning's 31 famed Nationality Rooms.

Built on ethnic pride and donations, the rooms honor immigrants whose labor in the steel mills helped make Pittsburgh what it is today. In that, the two Eastern European communities share a deep bond.

Only now, Russia has invaded Ukraine and the countries are at war. Pitt undergraduates who routinely sit in these rooms taking classes that have nothing to do with geopolitics find themselves surrounded by trappings of cultures now locked in bloody conflict.

Time will tell if Pitt can turn all that into a teachable moment.

The rooms, like the people whose contributions built them, have always been about advancing understanding globally across cultures, said Kati Csoman, director of Pitt’s Nationality Rooms.

"They are intended to be spaces of, really, timelessness and cultural values," she said. "These are volunteers who have worked hard to raise funds for scholarships."

The Nationality Rooms are located on the first and third floors of the Cathedral, one of the world’s tallest classroom buildings, 42 stories high, its summit visible for miles beyond the sprawling Oakland campus. The massive Indiana limestone structure was opened in 1936 after a decade of construction.

Then-Chancellor John Bowman wanted to harness the enthusiasm of immigrant mill workers by establishing classrooms that would honor their traditions and inspire their children to seek a college education. That idea became the Nationality Rooms."

George Takei: ‘I maintain that without optimism, we’ve already failed’; The Washington Post, February 15, 2022

KK Ottesen, The Washington Post; George Takei: ‘I maintain that without optimism, we’ve already failed’

"There’s been a recent backlash against stories about the uglier side of American history, especially around what can be taught in the classroom, with [criticism] of critical race theory and the banning of books.

Fanatics — they’re passionately opposed to something that doesn’t exist. I mean, that’s the kind of craziness that we had to put up with during the war. In the vast scope of American history, this kind of fanaticism — which is what that is, they don’t even know what they’re talking about, and they’re getting all excited and passionate and carrying guns about it, you know — this will pass. Our focus and our energy has to be put into education. A people’s democracy is existentially dependent on an educated citizenry.

And my effort is just a small effort on a short chapter of American history. Our story is four years. The African American story is four centuries. It’s a big story to be told. But each person telling small stories and fitting it into this panorama of American history will ultimately prevail. I’m optimistic because of people like Sally Yates and the people that rush to the airports after the Muslim travel ban. I maintain that without optimism, we’ve already failed. So we need optimistic people to be hanging in there. Otherwise, it’s going to be a dystopian society. I don’t subscribe to that. Our democracy is a precious form of government. A people’s democracy. And it’s optimistic people who have faith in the ideals of our democracy that’s going to make it survive.

There has been a decrying of the backsliding of American democracy these days. But having seen some of the best and worst of it in your own life, you feel like this is just a period we’ll get through?

When Trump was chanting “China flu” and “Wuhan flu” and “kung flu” — you know, ignorant people, people who are uneducated, are low-paid, and they’re angry, and they’re jealous, and they want their rights. That’s the enemy of democracy. Because they are the ones that grab at things. What they are not teaching at school, they get all riled up and emotional and shaking a fist at. Ignorance is the enemy of democracy.

And so going back to education again: We need to emphasize education. Without educated people who understand what those shining ideals stand for — a government of the people, by the people, and for the people — we will have those people that will rant and yell when they don’t know what they’re talking about. And that’s what we have now. And back then, that’s what we had during the war.

We’ve got to make America understand that we have great ideals, shining ideals, noble words — equal justice, rule of law — they’re noble words. But they’re just words on paper. They take on substance, meaning, when we take on the responsibility. This is a people’s democracy, and the people have to give meaning to those words."

The Librarian War Against QAnon; The Atlantic, February 18, 2021

 Barbara Fister; The Atlantic; 

The Librarian War Against QAnon

As “Do the research” becomes a rallying cry for conspiracy theorists, classical information literacy is not enough.

"We are experiencing a moment that is exposing a schism between two groups: those who have faith that there is a way to arrive at truth using epistemological practices that originated during the Enlightenment, and those who believe that events and experiences are portents to be interpreted in ways that align with their personal values."