Two different library stories in Texas crossed my desk in the past week that gave me pause.
The first was the discouraging news from far southeast Jefferson County that county commissioners seeking to close a several-million-dollar deficit have zeroed out the $297,236 budget for the 80-year-old county library, which serves 33,000 residents in unincorporated and underserved areas, as of the end of December. Jefferson County Library Director Chad Clark told me that the abrupt decision came just before the bookmobile wrapped up a successful “Read and Feed” summer reading club to young people who qualify for free lunches during the school year. (Ironically, the pairing of a bookmobile visit with service from Meals on Wheels was the spring brainstorm of one of those commissioners.) Even as petitions are being circulated to save the county library, Clark is strategizing with area residents hungry for a local library about how they can get started. A library is like clean air, Clark asserted: “If you ignore it, it’ll go away.”
The second story is about Weatherford Public Library, located in a town some 35 miles west of Fort Worth. In the throes of an oppressive heat wave, Weatherford’s 27,000 citizens have endured a boil-water alert since August 1 because of a broken connection to a primary water-storage well. As a result, restaurants and daycare centers closed and even surgeries were suspended—but the public library kept running, leading MLS candidate Courtney Butler to marvel at “the tremendous service libraries provide.” Taking to heart the marketing lessons she is learning at the University of North Texas library school in Denton, she observed, “Not only are they conducting normal programs, they are even passing out bottled water to all citizens!” She added, “I often worry that people take libraries for granted, and therefore won’t protest when services are limited or discontinued.”
At the heart of both these tales is the unwavering sense of commitment to their communities that libraries model, even when budget-makers begrudge paying for them and media outlets such as Fox News seem hell-bent on drumming up anti-library sentiment, as the Boston, Chicago, and New York City affiliates did June 28, when all three coincidentally aired “news” segments questioning libraries’ relevance in the 21st century. (The Chicago affiliate published an impassioned response from library Commissioner Mary Dempsey July 2.)
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