As I write this I am in a foul mood, which many of you will understand when you hear what’s going on.
I was driving home last night, talking to my mom, when she shared the news that the town council in my hometown is thinking of closing the library to cut their budget deficit. Note: They are not thinking of cutting back hours at the library; they are considering closing it. In the local paper, a councilman is quoted as saying, "Our funding for the library is almost $900,000 this year. That’s a lot of money. When more than 50 percent of the funding goes toward salaries, we have to start looking at other options." He said out of about 13,000 residents in town, only 4,700 hold library cards. And he goes on to say, "I’m not against the library, but you have five libraries within the immediate vicinity that could be used by local residents and they provide very similar services.” Those were fighting words to me, and I spent the rest of the drive home outlining to my mom how they need to mobilize to keep this from happening.