Caroline Cooney--prolific author

I'm always impressed with published writers. So imagine how much I was moved when I got the opportunity to listen to and meet Caroline B. Cooney.

That's Caroline with yours truly in the photo accompanying this blog post.

Cooney has written more than 90 suspense, mystery and romance novels for teens. These 15 million copies have been published in multiple languages, and one of her books--The Face on the Milk Carton--became a television movie.

Meanwhile, I've yet to publish my first book, but I'm trying. Hopefully my co-author (Michael Manuel) will complete it and get it published next year. (It's a Civil War-era set novel about romance, betrayal and murder in a small mountain community in Tennessee.)

Cooney spoke last week at a dinner for the "Friends of Dacus Library." She saluted libraries as the "caretakers of knowledge" and urged the "Friends" to continue their good work of financially supporting our university's library.

Later, Dacus Dean of Library Services Mark Herring spoke of how these were uncertain times for many libraries--given the financial straits universities find themselves in and given, too, that some folks believe (erroneously) that the Internet or electronic data bases of information are fast making libraries obsolete.

But libraries like Dacus are here to stay. Bless Cooney, Herring and all those of their ilk who remind us of their value.

We need that gentle reminder from time to time.

The library as the "caretaker of knowledge."

I like that.