We love libraries. When planning a trip to a new city, one of the items on our to-see list is the local library. Some are fantastic historical sites, like the New York City Library.
Others are unique in design and filled with bustling activity like the Vancouver Library.
Others are small and homey like the Carmel Valley Library
and others have active Friends of the Library like the Paso Robles Library.
Whenever we step into a library for the first time, we immediately feel at home, connected to others who love books!
In 1731 Benjamin Franklin founded the first lending library in Philadelphia, 45 years before the Declaration of Independence. Having an educated, literate and informed population is a pre-requisite for a thriving democratic society. Public libraries consider it their mandate to serve the public's information needs and it is there for all of us thanks to our tax dollars.
Just a few blocks away from the UCLA campus is the Westwood Branch of the LA City Library.
A spacious building, with underground parking (90 minutes free, $1 a hour thereafter), this library is a dream. The newspapers are full of dismal messages regarding libraries, challenging their usefulness with the advent of the internet, saying they have outgrown their purpose and that books are passè. But as I settled in at a large library table, I was amazed at the number of people and the activity at this branch. Many people were in the stacks searching for books or querying the internal database to locate materials.
Others were using the internet access available through the library computers. At one table off to the side, a Literacy Tutor was helping a middle-aged woman learn to read. The reference librarian was on the phone assisting a call-in request. Behind me, a young man was quietly and slowly reading aloud to himself as he worked his way, line by line, through a book open before him.
This library did not seem to have outgrown its purpose to me...it still seemed very relevant to the community needs.
We do what we can to support the libraries. We are members of our local Westchester Loyola Friends of the Library and help with their quarterly book sales. I also screen all the book donations and sell the higher valued books online for a larger profit for the library. Jay likes to purchase caps from various library book stores!
This March, LA city voters will have an opportunity to vote on Measure L (think L for Libraries). If passed, it will reassign funds from the city's general operating budget to the library system, mandating that a higher percentage of the city's property tax revenue go toward libraries. While it will not restore the lost hours and services from recent cuts, it does give them some guaranteed additional income without raising taxes. We hope the voters will be moved to vote yes.
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." ~ Cicero YES!
Oh yes! Support your libraries and your Friends of the Library fundraising events. In many Oregon communities libraries have their own library tax base, the way schools do, expanding into rural areas as a tax base. This way, they can continue to exist and not be part of all other services that need to be parcelled out in good and bad times too.
ReplyDeleteGreat Cicero quote! I agree with you that we need to support our libraries, especially our local community libraries, in these times of
ReplyDeletefinancial cuts to services.
I love your library post. I have not been to the library since high school except for the universities one. But since last year, I brought my kids to the library and it is a special place to spend time with the kids because we really focus on them. At home there are so much things to do. Library is a place for us to bond.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly a woman after my own heart!
ReplyDeleteRosaria - Your structure in OR sounds great. The minute they take out the budget scissors in CA, the first one to get cut is libraries!
ReplyDeleteLinda P - thanks for stopping by my blog. I liked that quote too...my 2 favorites: gardening and reading.
Malay-Kadazen - your comment reminds me of the global value of libraries.
LindyLouMac - Your blog feeds my soul as well!
I agree libraries are not at all obsolete (and I thought that before I started dating a librarian). I'm glad that you support libraries through your patronage and through advocation. :)
ReplyDelete