Editor, the Times:

There is a certain irony in the fact that the same day I was contemplating the age discrimination being practised by the Abbotsford institution one would least expect to exhibit ageism, The Province ran stories on age discrimination in the workplace.

At the Abbotsford Library (and) both the adult and young Summer Reading Programs at the Clearbrook Library are titled Strange but True but that is the only similarity between the way the young are valued, encouraged and engaged and the adults are treated.

The young get a licence empowering them to investigate the Strange and Weird with a list of strange and weird areas to investigate on the back of the licence.

They get little green brains marked with FVRL in bold letters.

And the adults? They get to enter the draw for a basket of autobiographies and other books.

Do not get me wrong, I love books and still have every science fiction and fantasy novel I have ever owned all the way back to my first Tom Swift. But, a green brain? Wow!

It is not just a matter of the summer reading program. The discrimination runs deeper than that.

A while back there was a magician for the young. And on Aug. 3 there was Mad Science, Fire and Ice for children. The library is a treasure house to be explored and enjoyed.

The greatest gift my parents bestowed upon me was to raise me to be a reader.

With schools turning out an ever-increasing number of illiterate and functionally illiterate graduates, with the need to introduce and foster an interest in science, to spark the imagination and curiosity, to encourage thinking and creativity, libraries have become a vital resource.

There is still a month for the favoured (the young) to join the summer reading club and get a green brain.

Or for adults to qualify for the draw for the basket of books. Although the real prizes are the books one reads.

Come down and explore your library - you never know what you may find hidden among the shelves.

James W. Breckenridge Abbotsford