Symbolic because Bettendorf continues its tradition of doing everything first class. This is almost certainly the finest library and children's museum in America for a city this size. I am particularly anxious to visit the museum spaces to see if any of the ideas are maintained from the room which my fledgling architect wife helped design for its predecessor structure. Miriam Ingram and so many others did so much to make clear the need for such a museum in the Quad Cities. We are all in their debt.
Perspective is difficult to apply to events of the day.
When I address college assemblies I sometimes begin by noting that domestically there have been three great debates in our history. What this library stands for is equal access to reading, to computers, to the ICN, to travel. Travel may sound a bit odd as a function of a library. . . My mother, who served on the Davenport Library Board almost as long as Norm has on Bettendorf's, was the greatest and fastest reader I've ever known. She averaged reading four to five books a day.