If you are dead broke in Denver, or anywhere in the metro region, now is the time to rekindle that long-neglected relationship with your local public library branch.
What a killer deal the library is! Free Wi-Fi? Got it. Free computer access and email? Got it. Want to learn Microsoft Xcel? Come on in and join a free class.
Want to research a new career, or considering returning to school? Talk to your librarian. In one visit you can catch up on bestselling books, add some music to your iTunes and rent movies -- all for free.
The great news is that libraries, recently considered fossils in the digital age, are back in business thanks to the recession. Local branches are shining as community gathering places, and they offer a myriad of entertainment, employment and education options.
As a result, parking has become impossible at many Denver-area branches and once inside you have to dodge dozens of Starbucks' slurping patrons foraging the fiction stacks. Check-out lines are long and cluttered with well-heeled patrons. And librarians, who just months ago appeared slack-faced and lonely, now are aglow with the type of upbeat energy that results from feeling needed.
This library Renaissance is being reported online and in print nationwide. In Boston, monthly visits to a free Internet homework tutoring service have doubled from 300 to 600 per month. Library-card requests have increased 27% during the last half of 2008 in San Francisco. The Boise Public Library reported a 61% increase in new library cards in 2008
The sale of books, CDs and DVDs nose-dived in 2008, but people are still able to enjoy reading, listening and watching, thanks to public libraries. Ironically, just as the recession has turned public libraries into happening places, where knowledge and information are democratized, your local government is likely looking to slash staff, hours and services.
With all the foot traffic I'm seeing at my branch, I think it would be wiser to fatten city coffers by opening library food courts or coffee houses.
Nonetheless, Aurora is planning to shutter one library and cut hours at six others as a cost-saving measure. In Boulder, circulation of job-hunting materials is up 14%, yet the library is contemplating a branch closure. Library administrators in Firestone are desperately trying to save a popular summer reading program for kids. In Denver, where the city has a $56 million budget shortfall, libraries were recently forced to shut down for a day as part of a cost-saving employee furlough program.
As an editorial writer at the New York Times recently pointed out, we need to make our politicians aware that public libraries are used more when the economy is down and that they are more important "than keeping a baseball team in New York or building or increasing spending on roads or buildings."
National Library Week is April 12-18. If you have a chance, personally thank your local librarians and shoot an email to your local politicians outlining your support of your community's library system. To support the Denver Public Library, please contact the Denver Public Library Friends Foundation at www.dplfriends.org or call 720-865-2050.
No comments:
Post a Comment