January 2009 | From the Director
The December 21, 2008 issue of Parade Magazine noted that - although now more than ever libraries provide invaluable services to a nation whose economy is tanking - the cities of Philadelphia and San Diego have announced that they'll need to close some libraries due to budget shortfalls. Perhaps the budgets in question will get a minimal boost from such measures, but for those residents who will lose their hometown libraries, the cost will be steep. Libraries, after all, are no longer solely book lenders (though the price of books alone is worth the investment for a library card).
Today's libraries offer everything from Internet and computer access to children and adult programming to entertainment such as magazines, newspapers, DVDs and music CDs. Even the most frugal consumer could spend as much as sixty dollars and change per month for an inexpensive Netflix plan, one book, one CD, and a newspaper and magazine subscription. If you're a reader or a student, you're going through more than a book a month. That sixty dollars does not include, by the way, Internet fees and computer costs. The library offers all this and more for free.
But all libraries face an uncertain fate without the support of their patrons. It is you who have allowed us to expand our role into so much more, and it is you who in the future will help us in our goal to continue to become not just a provider of services, but a center of community spirit and personal growth. Thank you!
Dennis Barnett, former president of the RCLS Board of Trustees, said at the 2006 annual RCLS meeting that libraries have become five things:
- A sanctuary, or safe haven for our patrons
- A cultural center to enrich our patrons' minds
- A connection to the past to grant our patrons a chance to look back at where we've been
- Hope for the future, to help us develop as individuals and strive for better things in life, and
- A place of stability, always relied on as a source of knowledge.
We hope you'll continue to support us with your patronage so that we can meet and maintain these standards and serve you in the best way possible.
Mary Lou Carolan
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