Library provides vital resources for all
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Editor,
Welcome to your new job on the Valley Journal. If last week’s editorial is any indication, this paper is in good hands. Your tribute to libraries made me weep. That first library card as a kid was a really big deal.
In today’s world, an email address and computer access is essential for access to jobs, services, education, and to loved ones faraway. So what happens when your computer crashes or life smacks you down? Having worked in human services for years, I saw firsthand the suffering of families whose circumstances and suffering put ‘internet account’ very low on the priority list.
As a young vagabond, the first place I would go after setting my backpack down was the local library. No matter if I was penniless or sleeping on a friend’s floor till I found a job, I had the world. That was long before computers were in every home.
Now, libraries are even more important, for access to Internet, for movies, books on tape and CD, as well as those of us who need to pick up the latest James Lee Burke novel. When my friend’s computer crashed, she wrote half her manuscript in there, which is now about to hit the bookstores.
All the “Googling” in the world can’t compete with the wisdom a librarian can share. With so few places for children and teens to go and feel welcomed and supported, we need a place that is inclusive. A library is the one place on this planet that is universally welcoming, as long as you keep your voice down. Plus, ours is beautiful, kid-friendly and the staff will get you any book that rests on a library shelf in Montana, usually within a week or so.
As a homeowner, I know that mill levy is a tiny investment that will multiply exponentially into a huge investment for my town.
As far as I’m concerned, a town without a library is not a town at all.
Julie Wenner
Polson
