Time and again, I run into the same thing. I’ll be speaking with someone–a friend, a neighbor–and I’ll mention the library. “Oh yeah, the library,” they’ll say, “You know, I don’t even know if I have a library card.” Odds are, they don’t; most residents don’t have a library card, even though they could.
I want to change that.
For one thing, using the library can save you money. Take audio books: millions of people subscribe to Audible.com, which allows users to pay $14.95 per month for one audio book. Yet, as a resident you can borrow (and re-borrow) more than a dozen audio books every month for free. And just like Audible, you can download them directly to an app on your phone. Fed up with the selection on Netflix or Hulu? Fear not: you can stream movies and TV shows to your phone, tablet, or TV for free, too.
There’s another reason I want to get more people using the library, though. Library resources often fill holes elsewhere in a person’s life. If a school isn’t meeting a student’s individual needs, the parent or the child might find hope and help in library materials. If home life is not a healthy place to be, the library building, along with the books and classes within it, can be a haven. The library makes a difference for your neighbors every day of the week. I think it’s about time it made a difference for even more people.
My plan to do this? Start going out into the community. If elected, I’ll prioritize visits to PTAs, clubs, and nursing homes. Anywhere there’s a need that the library can fill, I want to be there to listen and share. I will eagerly bring information about the library’s materials to those who can really benefit from it.