Austin American Statesman, Thursday, February 19, 2009
Our economy faces devastating economic times. People are loosing their jobs, homes, even libraries and other human services. City Manager Marc Ott wants to reduce the city spending by 20 million dollars, including the public library. I believe that libraries should be the last institution to consider for trimming. How can we survive this changing world if we are not the fittest? It is a tragic tale to realized that our politicians haven't figured out that a library is a place where people "lower their voices and raise their minds," because "no place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library." We can have all the riches in the world and yet it would not amount to the power that roars inside the library. The answer to the economic crisis lies hidden within the library shelf, we just need to find it or write it. Yet the city is still requesting the institution to cut their already small budget. The library isn't the only one being hit,the city has also asked the police department to cut spending yet they have spared the Fire Department. Opponents criticize the Mayer Ott, because they believe that everyone should carry a piece of the burden. And it is unfair to let the Fire Department slide without a warning just because they have a New Chief, Rhoda Mae Kerr. The library is having to close earlier despite the fact that many unemployed people are using it as source to find jobs. "The best of my education has come from the public library... my tuition fee is a bus fare and once in a while, five cents a day for an overdue book. You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library." Fire departments and libraries are equally important to a society. One rescues the body while the other nourishes the mind. Instead of naming town lake after Lady Bird Johnson maybe we should honor her words, "perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest."
