Andrew Carnegie grew up poor in Scotland and ended up being the richest man of his day. He amassed a fortune working in steel. Andrew would end up leaving almost 90 percent of his fortune to charities. This includes a series of libraries that still impact readers each day.

His donations led to the building of 2,509 libraries. This includes many throughout the United States and countries ranging from Canada, Ireland, Australia, United Kingdom, Serbia, Malaysia and several others. Andrew Carnegie said “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people.”

I spent several hours this weekend at my local library. The first time was with my children where they played building games, met other children and borrowed books for free. The other day I read several interesting works that taught me tons of lessons. I then was able to find amazing movies and music that I am enjoying.

It is free and fun to learn at your local library. Many offer diverse selections of books, free computers and are air conditioned. The library is a wonderful place to grow your knowledge. Within each one is a lifetime of learning. You are able to grow your gifts and open up to the wonderful literature created to teach us.