Reply #268: wow! I can't believe you actually think that!

[DollyM]

I grew up in a small midwestern community without a library. When we moved back here 10 years ago, I wanted to start a public library because we had nothing of the sort. If you wanted to use a library, you had to drive to a town 12miles away and pay $65.00 for a library card. For a low income famiy, that just wasn't going to happen. I remember going to the city council meeting here and the Mayor looking at me and telling me that we didn't need a library because we had the Internet! Are you and him brothers? I just thought it was small town people that were small minded! Libraries offer so many more services than books. And it is a lifeline for low income people. Libraries offer computers for internet and word processing, tutoring programs, summer reading programs for kids that expose them to people and places they could never see on their own, newspapers, (our local papers are NOT on line), magazines, ours carries text books that the community college offers for those who cannot afford to buy books, and the list goes on and on. And yes, it took five years of knocking on doors and fund raisers but we now have a public library in our community!