Your Local Public Library: Still the Best Deal in Town!

Have you ever sat down to think about the value you get every time you use your public library? Too many of us, I fear, take this wonderful institution for granted--and yet where would we be without it?

Where else can we go to find, all in one place, most of the books we want to read, much of the music we enjoy listening to, many of the movies we'd like to see, a large selection of the magazines and newspapers from all over the country that might be of interest to us, virtually all the tax forms and information we're likely to require to file our income taxes, and a hundred other kinds of help we use every day without even giving it a second thought?

Can you imagine how much it would cost us if we actually had to pay for all the resources and services we have free and easy access to at our local libraries? We'd be broke in no time!

If, every time we wanted to read a book we had to buy it-which isn't to say there aren't many wonderful new books on the market that are well worth their purchase prices--I would venture to say that many of us would do far less reading!

If we were required to buy or rent every single music CD or movie DVD or video we wanted to enjoy on a relaxing evening at home, we might just as well pay to go to the movies! Even if we don't mind doing that--and let's face it, most of us enjoy going to the movies every so often--many of the movies we would like to see wouldn't be showing at our local theaters. (This would be especially true for the classic movie buffs among us!)

And suppose we had to pay for the huge store of information of every description--on nearly any subject we could conceive--which is right at our fingertips at our friendly neighborhood public library? Where would we find the money to do that? The truth is that most of us wouldn't. The majority would simply have to do without.

While it's certainly true that the internet has opened up avenues of knowledge heretofore unknown and untapped--after all, they don't call it the "information superhighway" for nothing--enabling us to do much of our research in the comfort of our own homes; it's just as true that the personalized help and service, and the feeling of community we enjoy through our local libraries simply can't be matched by the anonymous and impersonal world wide web!

Yet, for those of us to whose lives the internet has become indispensable, never fear! Our friendly neighborhood libraries are places where we can enjoy the best of both worlds! We can share the intimacy of our communal reading space and benefit from the expediency of our inexpensive local meeting place while simultaneously exploring the vast frontiers of cyberspace! Where else could one go to find such value?

Our public libraries bring the world to our doorstep--in many more ways than one!

So, the next time you check out a book, CD, or DVD, or use your library's reference materials, take a moment to think about how much it would cost you to buy or rent them--and then give some serious thought to what you might do to help support your local public library!

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