How important is your library to you?

     Someone passed me an interesting article to read the other day.  It was by Scott Turow, a brilliant author and the president of the Authors Guild.  He wrote about libraries, just one sector of the many public agencies that are being slowly relieved of funding to keep them afloat, not to mention running in the black with a budget.
     Mr. Turow's article was titled "Let-Them-Eat-Cake-Attitude Threatens to Destroy a Network of Public Assets."  You need to read the entire article, because he speaks for many of us who work in the libraries also.
     I want to quote a few of his choice sentences:
     "While our economy seems to be slowly staggering back to its feet...governments are cutting everywhere they can and public libraries nationwide have been one of the biggest and least deserved losers in the process."  That includes us!  Less funds for books and magazines and a few other things that our public either needs or enjoys.  Does that sound like what you're going through at home also?
     "...Libraries seem to be losing out in the funding battles, due, in part, to the mistaken belief that they are somehow anachronistic in an age when so many Americans have instant computer access to information through the Internet."  So...if you don't have a computer at home and you have to come to the library where, with just the show of your library card, you can use a free computer and access to the Internet...what's going to happen to your free access at the library when we lose more funding to keep us open?
     "Millions of Americans simply cannot afford to replace what libraries have traditionally offered for free...."   Have you thought about what you get free at the library with your library card?  How about free access to those new and upcoming books you can no longer afford to buy, the computers and all the research assistance that goes along with it, those free DVDs?  How about the newspaper you can't afford at home, but can read for free at the library, especially if you're looking in the want ads for a job?  Using the newspapers and the computers for jobs that are slowly being cut out of the workforce?  Catch-22?
     Mr. Turow called libraries "first responders" and I like that.  He said libraries "function as crucial technology hubs."  I like that, too.  He said libraries "are the only safe place where thousands and thousands of American kids can go to study, a haven free from the dangers of street or the numbing temptations of television."  And "for the elderly, libraries are often important community centers that help them escape the loneliness of old age."
     My gosh, but this man can write!!!  And he speaks of libraries, not just our library, but all libraries.
     He said, "Most important of all, perhaps, a library within a community stands as a testimonial to its values, its belief in universal access to literature and knowledge."  And I REALLY like that!
     Mr. Turow said more, much more, but it would be good if you could read it for yourself.  And when you get to the end of his article, be sure you read all those comments people from all over the nation have made.  Outstanding!!!
     The link is below.  And think...how important is your library to you?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-turow/letthemeatcakeattitude-th_b_823609.html