Wow. Who knew there were so many spirited advocates of libraries? Replies are pouring in, including some arguments I’ve never heard. Very helpful stuff. But one Corner reader makes a point that hits home for me.

As an avid reader and father of four, I like to think that the presence of my personal library in the home communicates, in some way, a persistent reminder of my priorities. Someone once said that if you look at most folks’ bookshelves all you will really learn about them is what courses they took in college! All too often this is true. But from my library my children not only know that I read a lot (they see that) but also what I read. What example does it set for my children to see that their father spends a significant amount of his free time reading: religion and theology, science, history, and classical fiction? I hope that sets a good example. We most often do our most powerful teaching through our actions, not our words. I hope that my library represents a concrete positive example to my children.

I relate to this. Seeing copies of books by Robert Conquest and Whittaker Chambers on my parents’ shelf made an indelible impression on me. In addition I was a TV addict as a kid, but now I spend far more time reading. I think – no, I know — it’s because my parents’ library of thousands of books shaped me.