Only 326 readers vote on important question
By Andrew Harris
I agree, it wasn’t the most interesting poll question or the best wording. With only 326 votes, the lack of interest in the question is the most evident result. Even with library activist and local journalist Kathryn Ross asking the public to chime in on this vote, this poll had about 20% of the normal participation.
The poll indicates that about 40% of our readers, “very rarely” visit the David A. Howe. This result can be easily explained because many of our readers do not live in Wellsville, they have the Belmont, Cuba, Scio, or several other public libraries available.
Although 35% of readers voted that they regularly use the David A. Howe, that data is also skewed because of the poorly worded question. Because we have readers all over Allegany County and WNY, the question should have read: “How often to you utilize your local public library?”
Over 17% voted for the “very often” option which seems accurate if you live in Wellsville. 1/5 of my friends or family use the library a lot, sometimes daily. That 17% is thousands of people per month.
Harry Wormwood, thank goodness, was soundly in last place. The famous charactar played by Danny Devito was known for hating books and considered reading in the age of television a waste of time. We all fear a reality where video becomes a replacement for reading and writing. This is happening more with each generation, who would rather Youtube, Tik-Tok, or Snapchat than read a good short story. For those 29 Harry Wormwoods: I hope you were just being sarcastic. A rephrase of Harry’s famous line:
“There is nothing you can get from a television that can’t get from a book. Actually, you can get much more from a book and your imagination.”
