Three Reasons to Support Your Public Library
The contributions of public libraries to our democracy, our formal education, our lifelong learning, and our information-driven society may be too numerous to list. However, public libraries are often the last part of the education budget to get an increase during good economic times, and first area to get cuts during bad economic times. At AITA we value the power of the printed word, and are true advocates of the public library system. Here are just a few reasons why you should be too.
Librarians know stuff. The words “geek” and “nerd” are no longer seen as insults, but rather words used to lovingly describe enthusiasts. Although our society continues to venerate people who don’t know anything, we’ve certainly reduced the degree to which we stigmatize people for knowing a lot. This alone might not make libraries “cool,” but it takes away from the sense that they’re actively not cool. More specifically, librarians live in the world of information, and are employed in part to organize and make accessible large quantities of data. Imagine your laptop with feet and a sparkling personality.
Libraries are green and local. For those of you who buy organic produce and reusable grocery bags, it is pretty easy to position a library as environmentally friendly, not to mention economical and part of your local culture. The accumulation of unread books and magazines that clutter most of our shelves result in fewer trees and senseless waste. Support the anti-chain-store, anti-sprawl, and anti-anonymity lifestyle, before our libraries are replaced with a Barnes and Noble Starbucks megastore.
Libraries will give you things for free. Nothing compares to the feel of a beautifully bound hardcover book, but very few of us can actually afford to purchase hardcover editions for our personal libraries. As Netflix continues to raise prices, libraries will literally hand you a DVD from their extensive catalogs for free. That’s not an especially hard concept to sell.
The list of why public libraries are one of the most valuable cultural institutions in our society can go on and on, and hopefully reading this will inspire you to spend a few hours browsing the stacks of your own local library. Stay tuned for more information on the AITA Curated Library project, as well as the Tamworth Lyceum.
