If you’re a winter sports’ enthusiast, you likely don’t mind the colder temperatures. As a librarian, you might imagine I’m somewhat “indoorsy,” and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. 

One of the reasons I don’t mind the lower temps and the shorter days of this time of year is that, so long as I have some reading glasses and an adequate lamp, I can read my way through the darkness. 

Post-Thanksgiving means the lists of the best books of the year arrive. The New York Public Library lists 70 books on its Best of 2023. I’m a slow reader, so I’ll never get through 70 books. 

Because I generally read library books, I seldom get the chance to read the hot books of the year. Last winter I finally got around to reading “The Boys in the Boat,” which, I’m only a little embarrassed to say, came out 10 years ago. Anyway, I finished it ahead of the movie premier, which is Dec. 25. 

If I’m honest, I haven’t heard of most of the books that show up on the best of the year lists. They seem to favor fiction, and I lean towards reading about stuff that actually happened. Here’s the thing, though: I could read them. 

When I search for books in Madison College Libraries, those published in the since 2020, I see we have more than 24,000. Some of those are checked out, some of those are books I will never want to read, and many are e-books.  

This is the point.  

In Wisconsin, the American Library Association says that there were 14 attempts to ban 49 different books in Wisconsin libraries between January and the end of August 2023. As my library colleague Dana pointed out this spring, 2022 was the busiest year for book-related censorship in history. Even bigger than the McCarthy era.  

This is what has long appealed to me about libraries: possibilities. 

Maybe I want to learn about Napoleon ahead of the release of the new Ridley Scott film, or I need resources to learn a new language. 

Maybe I just want a quieter place to study or study with friends in a group study room. 

Maybe I’ll drive to Minneapolis over winter break, and I want to hear an audiobook, rather than the same 30 songs on pop radio. 

When you stop into Madison College Libraries to use any of the above, we won’t question or criticize your choices. We are just here to help.