To have the gift of being able to read is to have the world at one’s fingertips.

To have a library card is to have the key to that world, because the public library opens up so much for so little.

Selma-Dallas County Public Library Director Becky Nichols and her staff know these important facts about reading and having access to good books and programs to encourage use of the public library.

And the people at the local library also know how important it is for children to feel as though they “own” something.

So for the last week, first graders from schools in the county and the city have come inside the library and received their “keys” to a lifetime of books and have walked through the portal of a lifetime of reading.

But a lot of work went behind the scenes for these 6- and 7-year-olds to be able to hold in their hands that card with their names scrawled across a line.

School teachers had to care enough about their students to work with parents to ensure the children understand the process of public libraries. The schools and parents had to coordinate the field trip, too.

At the library, Nichols and her staff spent days processing cards for nearly 600 first graders, who now are called patrons.

Patrons. Books. Library.

There is nothing better than encouraging a life of enjoyment of reading books.