Libraries should not be taken for granted
In the beloved Hollywood classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey gets the chance to find out what his corner of the world would have been like had he never been born. He asks his guardian angel, Clarence, what has become of his wife, Mary.
“You’re not going to like it, George,” Clarence replies.
When an increasingly agitated George Bailey pleads with Clarence to tell him where she is, Clarence hesitates, and then blurts out, “She’s just about to close up the library!”
Oh, a fate worse than an eternity in purgatory!
The library. A repository of musty volumes, imposing card catalogs and encyclopedias grudgingly cracked open when a paper is due on the Roman Empire or the Teapot Dome scandal. It’s all overseen by prim librarians who serve up chilling death stares if you raise your voice or laugh too loud.
Sorry, it’s not like that anymore.
Anyone who has visited a library recently knows that they are now appreciably different and more user-friendly than they were in the days when “It’s a Wonderful Life” was in theaters, or even the 1980s or 1990s. Sure, there’s still a plenitude of books that can be checked out, but patrons can download books from libraries now, and check out DVDs, take classes and use computers. They are now media hubs and community centers.
And, no, they cannot be supplanted by the internet.
That message needs to be sent to some of the communities surrounding Washington. As we reported in the Tuesday edition, municipalities around Washington that are served by the city’s Citizens Library have been reducing their annual contributions to the library’s operation. Just four years ago, $161,085 flowed to the library from 13 municipalities and three school districts. In 2017, it is expected they will contribute just $92,525. North Franklin, South Strabane and Canton townships have sliced the amounts they have contributed and Trinity Area School District withdrew its funding entirely in 2014. It should be noted Trinity is thinking about spending more than $2 million to replace the turf at its stadium and make other upgrades to its athletic facilities.
More recently, East Washington Borough Council planned on pulling its library funding, but has had second thoughts after a public outcry and will reconsider its decision next month.
Sure, the library also receives funding from the county, state, Friends of Citizens Library group and other entities, and the municipalities that have reduced their contributions can claim that, hey, they have their own budgets to balance, parks and roads that need attention, and employees who need to be paid.
No one has a lot of spare change to spread around.
But they need to get beyond the idea that the library is a frill, something that’s “nice” but not necessary. In a globalized economy where knowledge wins out over brawn, libraries should be considered vital, irreplaceable cornerstones of community development. It’s not going too far out on a limb to say that the health of a community can be measured by the health of its library.
Susan Martinelli, the president of the Citizens Library board, pointed out that there’s a “zeitgeist” that checking out library books is part of another age.
“There’s maybe a little taking for granted of what’s always been there,” she said.
That needs to change.