Perhaps sharing a link to this piece on your library's web site might be worth the effort. The real effort that's required is how to get it into the hands of people who haven't used any library services in many years, if ever, and likely have little to no idea about what a library of 2010 offers its users.
Already having emphasized the social and environmental impacts of borrowing, let’s narrow our focus to public libraries. Thanks to the faltering economy, libraries have become busier than ever. Rewind a few years and you’d find a very different story. Even today, public libraries suffer from dwindling budgets and lack of overall support. Is this how we plan on encouraging the ongoing curiosity of the general public?
In developing countries like Ethiopia, the benefits of a public library are greatly amplified. “Education without reading outside the classroom is like eating food without salt and spice. It’s bland,” said Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder of the Donkey Mobile Library in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to John Perra in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Ode. “At first, most kids would hold a book upside down, but later they learn how to use it, how to flip the pages and then gradually to read the stories. They are now star readers.” Learning to read is easy for most kids, but without access to additional materials, their new skills can’t be developed to their true potential.
For developed countries, the advantage of a public library extends far beyond free access to books, DVDs, CDs, and magazines. Libraries have and always will be hubs of community activity. From foreign language and computer classes to job search assistance and college scholarships, libraries often see more visitors than city hall. It’s time to show some extra support to the public libraries that are always there for us, no matter the economic trends.
The article concludes with a list of several things people can do to support public libraries.
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