Nutrimentum spiritus

Posted on | April 13, 2010 | 2 Comments

Nutrimentum spiritus (“food for the soul“)
- Inscription on the Berlin Royal Library

One of my earliest memories connected to my love of reading comes from the local library branch my mother used to take me to. It was small – very small in my memory, though I think it’s since been expanded. The children’s books were in the far back corner to the right when I walked in the door. I usually made beeline towards those shelves, but the kid-sized chairs and tables made it seem more like a round-about obstacle course.

I remember especially loving the colorful spines facing out and thinking how sad the adults must be to have to read books that didn’t have colorful spines. (In my defense, I still get distracted by pretty, shiny things. It’s the curse of an overactive imagination.) I plowed through nearly every one of Beverly Cleary’s books and read and re-read the Little House on the Prairie series so many times I eventually got copies of my own.

Well into adolescence, I frequented the local library in whatever town I lived in at the time. I felt incredibly grown-up when I graduated from the children’s room and Babysitters’ Club books to the YA and Adult stacks and Sweet Valley High and Danielle Steele (my taste in books, like my common sense, was somewhat questionable when I was 14).

When I first moved to Massachusetts in 2007, I was delighted to discover that the local library was literally just down the street from me and this past August, when I moved to a new town, one of the first things I did was get a new library card from my local branch.

Though I am a self-admitted Amazon.com addict and am rarely able to hold on to a bookstore gift card much longer than a few weeks, I still love the library. It’s like being able to test-drive a car before you buy it. A library lets you test-drive nearly any book you can imagine. And, of course, libraries combine two of my favorite things: books and free stuff.

So, of course, I’m concerned about libraries losing their funding in this dismal economic climate. In honor of National Library Week (which is this week), I wrote about the drastic budget cuts so many community and school libraries are facing right now and vitally important it is to make sure we maintain a library’s ability to offer free access to information and books for everyone. (You should go read what I wrote. It’s okay; I’ll wait………)

(Cue muzak interlude)

You back?

Good, because now I’m going to reiterate what you can do to help.

Start by contacting your legislators about funding for the Library Services and Technology Act and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. The deadline is April 15, so get writing! The American Library Association’s Action Center has all the information you need to know in order to contact your Senator and the Senate Appropriations Committee to make sure libraries across the country receive the funding they so desperately need.

For information about supporting libraries on the local level, check out Save Libraries.org, ALA’s Save Your Library resource page or visit your town or county’s website. In Boston, the public library’s budget meetings were open to the public, giving ordinary citizens a valuable opportunity to provide feedback. Your own local library or school board probably does the same, so find out when the next meeting is and show up (and bring friends!) to support your libraries.

Reading Is Fundamental is also spearheading its own campaign to reinstate its funding. As Congress continues to battle over the 2011 budget, you can still make your voice heard. The RIF Advocacy Center has additional information about contacting your Senator or Representative.

We all have a story to tell, but where would we be without libraries and librarians to help us understand how to tell it? I really don’t want future generations to find out that answer, so let’s do what we can to save these cornerstones of our civic foundation.

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