Letter: Frazee library is a hidden gem

I have been listening to the news about how the math and reading skills for Minnesota students have been shown, by testing, to be lacking.

Society blames COVID-19. I agree that that may have been part of the reason. I heard of a 17-year-old student who signed in by computer every morning for school and then went hunting and fishing all day. I don’t think that he graduated. Also, video games do NOT include many printed words, so if your child is a gamer, how are his reading skills?

I am sad when my library site is right next to the Frazee-Vergas High School (in the former school administration building) and no students or teachers visit it.

I have been reading since I was in elementary school. Because I started reading early, by sixth grade I got to do a course in speed reading, which I still use. My favorite series was Nancy Drew mysteries. My favorite book is Mrs. Mike, mostly because it was very similar to my living in the forestry station in northern Becker County.

When I was in high school and college, the library was a very good place to meet people! And to study – they have study rooms now. I have worked in several libraries and love the job. I learn something new every day, such as, where Guam is, the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, what a chicken’s brood is, the Vietnam war, there is six-man football, and that there are three sides to the story – mine, yours, and the full story.

By the way, what will you do when the grid goes down?

And I’ll leave you with a saying on a T-shirt that I saw in the library: Respect older people. We graduated without Google and Wikipedia! Can you?

(Mooney works at the Lake Agassiz Regional Library LINK site in Frazee, which is open 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays and 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays)