BY ERIN TATGE
Los Alamos
I am writing to thank the library board, staff, volunteers, and everyone else involved in keeping our public libraries running.
My family uses the library frequently. I started to think about the various ways we use the library and this is what I came up with from just the last 2 months. We have borrowed:
*adult nonfiction
*adult fiction
*picture books
*juvenile chapter books
*juvenile nonfiction
*juvenile graphic novels
*teen chapter books
*juvenile books on cd
*adult and juvenile books for homeschooling
*artwork
*audiobooks through Libby
*ebooks through Libby and Hoopla
*books via interlibrary loan
In that time, we also have participated in a book club using the library’s book club kits, used the photocopier, suggested materials for addition to the catalog, made purchases at the Friends of the Library bookstore, and regularly end up coloring, playing board games, or doing the I-Spy display when browsing in the youth services areas.
Often we use the catalog online and request books, sometimes we browse the shelves and displays in person, and sometimes we (mostly our preschooler) select books from the shelves at random. Displays and browsing have led us to check out some duds, but also helped us discover some new family favorites that we never would have seen otherwise.
Sometimes, when looking at a display, I see a book and think, “that doesn’t sound interesting to me” and then I just… walk on by. Sometimes I even see a book on display or featured on the library website and think, “why would anyone want to read that?” Occasionally, I even see a book and think, “ugh, that book probably says stuff I don’t agree with – I wish there wasn’t a market for it,” but then I remember that there are a lot of different kinds of people in our community, and the PUBLIC library is, in fact, for the PUBLIC. Before writing this letter, I read some materials about our library system and saw that it follows the ALA Library Bill of Rights. Just like the US Bill of Rights, it is written to include all of us, even people (and books) I disagree with. The materials added to the collection are carefully chosen and there for a reason.
I’d like to thank you all for the services you provide our community, including exposing us to new resources – the ones we like and the ones we don’t.