(20) Michael Enright at the Ontario Library Association Superconference, January 30, 2009

Michael Enright, CBC's veteran broadcaster and journalist, was the focus of the all conference plenary session on Friday morning. However, "veteran" is a word Mr. Enright doesn't care for that much. "'Veteran journalist' is usually followed by 'I didn't know he was still alive,'" he quipped. "And a journalist borrows money from a reporter. A journalist is a someone with no ideas, and the ability to express them."

Libraries and reading have figured prominently in Mr. Enright's life and career. After he finished his shift at the Globe and Mail, he would go into the "morgue," or the library, and read his way through the microfiche of newspapers stored there.

His first library was Wychwood, though. What gave him the spark to read was the Hardy Boys, and then on to Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain, followed by Dickens. Every year he rereads David Copperfield.

Enright admitted that he wasn't the best of students. "The car accident that was my high school career, I spent a couple of happy years in Grade 12." But this didn't prevent him from making a career out of words and writing. He says his enduring quality is his curiosity, and has a fellowship in Chinese History.

When he graduated from high school, he got a job at a newspaper in Brampton. And after renting a room at the local YMCA, he went directly to the local library, a Carnegie library, to pursue his quest for knowledge.

Unlike most people these days who spend about eight hours in front of a screen, Mr. Enright doesn't own a television. "I'm an addict to TV and electronic media, so if I had one, I'd lose my mortal soul."

Like many people, however, Enright thinks we're living in a post-print society, but he also wonders if "we're living in a post-literate society. Christopher Hitchens (author of God Is Not Great - http://www.hitchensweb.com) says the US is a profoundly post-literate society, where public discourse suffers. Political leaders now need not be competent, sincere... they just need a story. But in Canada, 87% of us read a book last year; 85% say reading is an important part of our lives."

Mr. Enright admitted that he reads "four newspapers a day, and the Toronto Sun. I'm supposed to be informed, but sometimes I feel less informed now that I did in my 20s."

"The late Neil Postman said that we're in danger of digitalizing ourselves. We're getting to a tipping point where e-books are becoming more prevalent. It's doubtful that electronic books will replace our print cousins, but do we want to increase the time we spend in front of a screen?"

"We are people of the book, no matter what our religion. Readership is up at many libraries. Toronto has the largest library system in North America. The library is the pace car, the anchor."

"Joseph Brodsky, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature said, 'There are worse crimes than burning books. Not reading them is one of them.'"

Mr. Enright ended with one of my favourites: "According to Thomson-Reuters, 'Without knowledge, it's just data.'"

You should have been there!