Expanding Literacy

I've always been somewhat aware of literacy on the periphery of books, being that I was a voracious reader of novels in my childhood (so much so that it inspired me to want to become a librarian), but my interest in books flagged. I've since mended my ways and returned in some respects to reading books, but that does not stop me from finding reading material on the internet and reading it, as well.

Several authors whose work I enjoy can only be found online, and while they for the most part are not necessarily intellectually stimulating they're reading material that I read daily. I read several dozen webcomics (of varying intellectual value), blogs, at least three articles, world news, video-game specific news (Kotaku.com)--technically speaking, I might read several dozen pages every day, even when the things I read aren't printed on the disfigured corpses of trees.

I even read short stories and novels that are published on the Internet, such as Rob Balder's novel/webcomic hybrid "Erfworld" and Jerry Holkin's "On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Part 3". I mention Jerry in particular because I'm fond of his works and the Internet's self-publishing freedom allows works that would be editorialized into nothingness see the light of day sundered directly from their creator's smoking brainstem.

Sometimes even older works exist online; I found an unabridged copy of The Wizard of Oz available on a website and out of curiosity labored to read it cover to virtual cover. Technically speaking, I didn't read a book, in that the "book" as an artifact was never involved, although I did read a book in the sense that the thing being read is typically described as a book, even when read on media that aren't necessarily books.

Catherine Ross's In the Company of Readers examines a behavior of terror from educators/authors/shrill literati who talk about the death of reading as though reading only counts when the words are written on paper. It's vexatious. Of course, all of this really just relates to what a librarian should be doing for their patrons--since free internet access is just one of the many valuable services offered by many libraries.