Give me liberty or give me a library!

I've been checking out Miss Snark's blog from time to time(pretty damn funny at times,plus I sympathize with her George Clooney love-with me,just exchange Matt Damon or James Marsters for GC but I digress)and one of the posts fired up my pistons. One of Miss Snark's regular readers(she has dubbed them Snarklings) actually got on her case for recommending that people
go to the library to check out books she likes!

Miss Snark handily took this genius down a few pegs(check title link to read the post)but I was amazed at what a snob this person was for proclaiming that to truly support an "artist",you need to shell out the bucks. Does this person think libraries get their books for free? Also,many people
can't afford to buy the latest hardcover releases(not even humble bookstore workers like myself who have plenty of ARCs in their own personal library)or no access to a bookstore at all in their area.

When I was a kid,my father would take my brother and me to the library every Saturday. IT was a beautiful building with long winding stairs,wooden banisters and a separate floor just for the children's books. The Young Adult section was a small room downstairs,where music albums were available as well. Unfortunately,the city tore it down several years ago,due to opening up a more modern branch and the budget crunch did my former library in. I still miss it-it was a castle of dreams that held not just mine but other's fond memories as well.

We moved(did abit of that)to another section of town and there was a library next door to the local planeterium. There was also a historical house within the same area that you could take a tour in for free(weird to see roped-off rooms that you could gawk at but not take a seat). I pratically lived there-nearly got locked in one afternoon. I didn't realize it was late until they started turning the lights off!

Sad to say,I've not been in a library for years but I still wholeheartedly support them. Many are underfunded and not as well stocked as they should be but that's no excuse for not using them,
mainly for educational services. I see so many parents and kids looking for school report materials that we simply don't have being a small store and we always tell them"You should
go to the library". I blame the parents because alot of them have most of the excuses"I don't want to have to return the stuff...My kid has only this much amount of time to get this done...the library doesn't have good enough books" etc. Children learn by example and one
of the best things my dad taught me was how to use a library. It's an important skill-don't
neglect your child in knowing how to track down the books they would like to read or locate
the information necessary to complete their assignments. That's more enpowering than any
playdate can provide.