On the Shelf

Library@Nite

Once again, the Downieville Library will be open in the evening for your convenience. Perhaps you work during our normal daytime hours, and can’t get to the library. Perhaps you have children who are in school during our normal daytime hours, and so can’t bring them to the library then. Perhaps you haven’t wanted to go out into the heat of the day. Perhaps there is some other reason that has kept you away from the library during our normal daytime hours. Well, whatever your reason, Libary@Nite is made just for you. The library is open on the second Monday of each month (September 8, this month), from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. All the services we offer during our normal daytime hours are on offer during these evening hours. So, why not come on by, and check us out? Oh, and check out some books or videos, while you’re at it!

Three Special Days in Early September

Library@Nite at the Downieville Library falls on the middle of three special days this year. Let’s take a look:

Sunday, September 7 — Grandparents’ Day: In 1969, Russell Capper, age 9, sent a letter to President Nixon suggesting a special day be set aside as Grandparents’ Day. The reply back from the president’s personal secretary said that the president ordinarily only issues proclamations designating special observances when a Congressional resolution authorizes him to do so. So, too bad, Mr. Capper.

Beginning in 1973, Marian McQuade of West Virginia, rebuffed by the U.S. Senate in her attempt to establish a Grandparents’ Day, urged each state to issue a proclamation designating such a day in their own state. Within three years, 43 states had done so. Buttressed by this nationwide support, the Senate, in February, 1977, passed the legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents’ Day, which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on August 3, 1978. Added note: the flower of the U.S. National Grandparents’ Day is the forget-me-not.

Monday, September 8 — International Literacy Day: Celebrated on September 8 each year, International Literacy Day was first declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on October 26, 1966. The goal of the day is to fight against illiteracy which, in the words of the U.N. resolution, is “a bottleneck retarding social and economic development”. The resolution calls upon U.N. member states “to give financial, technical, moral and any other appropriate forms of support for international action against illiteracy…as soon as possible, to eliminate illiteracy throughout the world”.

According to the National Center of Education Statistics, in 2024, 28% of adults in the United States ranked at the lowest levels of literacy, compared to 19% in 2017. Thus, the literacy rate in the U.S. appears to be decreasing. The National Literary Institute also reported that low levels of literacy costs the country up to $2.2 trillion a year, with 50% of those unemployed between the ages of 16 and 21 not considered to be functionally literate. The ongoing effort to combat illiteracy is one reason we have public libraries.

Tuesday, September 9 — California Admissions Day: What is present-day California has had a long and varied history. Prior to Europeans showing up (think colonizers), the area was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. The Spanish Empire arrived to colonize the area in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1821, the area became a part of Mexico, following that country’s successful war for independence. It was then ceded to the United States in 1848, after the Mexican-American War. As we here locally know, the Gold Rush started in 1848, which led to social and demographic changes, including eradication of Indigenous tribes. California was admitted to the United States as the 31st state on September 9, 1850. It came into the union as a “free state”, under the Compromise of 1850; however, it could just as readily have been considered a slave state, since many Indigenous persons were kept in chattel slavery. So, on September 9 this year, California will celebrate its 175th anniversary as a United States state.

Normal Daytime Hours

You can celebrate this 175th anniversary by visiting the Downieville Library — for we will be open that day. Our regular hours are Tuesdays, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and Thursday, noon to 4:00 PM.