Got insomnia? Want to research all night?

The Linda Hall Library will be open the 24 hours of September 11, 2003, in commemoration of the events of September 11, 2001, and in recognition of the strength and spirit of this nation and its libraries for their support of freedom of expression and access to information.

The library will close at 5:00 p.m. on September 10, and will re-open at midnight and remain open through midnight, September 11.

It would get even better if they did workshops about how September 11 has been twisted into attacks on our privacy and free speech/thought. But of course we all know that people don't kill other people--books do.

The Linda Hall Library joins the "Libraries Remember" project, which issued the following spirited call:

Libraries represent the sum of all human knowledge, and they represent equal access to that knowledge.  Libraries represent freedom of expression, celebration of diversity, a playing field that is level, preservation of heritage, and commitment to the future. The Bensenville Community Public Library believes, therefore, that there could be no more fitting tribute, no more appropriate commemoration of September 11, than for libraries all across the United States to simply be there.

On September 10 this year, the Bensenville Community Public Library District will close at 9:00 p.m. as usual. But then, at midnight, we will re-open, and we will remain open for the 24 hours of September 11. 

We invite the libraries of the United States to join us. We propose that libraries of every type, every size, and in every state, for those 24 hours, do business as usual: facilitate communication, foster citizenship, promote understanding, guarantee freedom of access to information, and above all on that particular day, stand with doors open wide as a remarkable symbol of our freedom.

Your first thought may be, that's impossible. May your second thought be, let's do it anyway.

Here's hoping you already live in a town where your libraries aren't closing for days at a time due to budget cuts instead of remaining open for 24 hours one day.