Freedoms and Funds

This morning I gave a tour of the library to Miss Rocío’s ESOL class.  It’s a beginning class, and some of the students are very recently arrived from their native countries – Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala and Cuba.  So I made a point of explaining to them how public libraries work in the U.S.  We lend materials out for free.  All you need is a library card, which is free.  We provide an array of services and quality activities, which are all free, and access to computers with Internet and Microsoft office software – also free.      

In my experience, all of this is outside of the norm in many countries.  I’ve been to libraries in Latin American where you have to ask for your book through a window, read it on the premises, and maybe even pay a fee for that privilege.  So many of these students were pleasantly surprised to learn about all that the library offers, but the couple from Cuba was flabbergasted.  They told me that they would never have had access to such a place as this library back in Cuba, that computers are prohibited there, and that this tour reinforced their impression of America as “pure opportunity.”      

It’s easy to take for granted all the freedoms we enjoy, and all the opportunities a library offers.  The library plays an essential role in our society; it’s a pooling of community funds to ensure that everyone has access to all the information of the world.    

~Tara

People of all ages are free to browse around, pull books off the shelves, and read as much as they want to of anything.

 

    

      

People can go just about anywhere they want to on the Internet at the library. With 146 public computers, there are enough for everybody.

Book clubs and other intellectual gatherings find their home in the library.