OPINION: Support your library

As a reader, I’ve always held libraries in high esteem. I thought this was a normal thing. Even if someone didn’t utilize the library like I did, they at least understood its importance. In the past year or so, I’ve learned I’m dead wrong.

Libraries have been under direct attack by both the state and country. With a number of Iowa bills thankfully dead in the water regarding content allowed, book lovers in Iowa finally felt OK to take a breath. We shouldn’t have been so hasty.

On March 31, the federal administration put the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on leave. IMLS was also to be eliminated “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

IMLS is a small non-partisan and independent federal agency (about 70 employees) that works with museums and libraries around the United States, connecting them to resources and grants. While the agency does many important things, Union County and Gibson Memorial Library will be mainly affected by one thing: interlibrary loans.

At a library board meeting earlier this week, Director Danielle Dickinson Thaden mentioned the impact the closing of IMLS would have on the library. While most of the library’s funding comes from the city, a majority of library resources are contributed by state and federal agencies. IMLS ending would result in the end of interlibrary loans, the program in which libraries can share material with each other.

Ending interlibrary loans would spell the end for many of the smaller libraries, who are able to get by via shared resources with larger libraries. In just March, Gibson Memorial Library borrowed 59 books and lent 49 through this program. I can’t imagine how often this program is utilized in libraries with even smaller collections.

Of course this attack on libraries came just a week before National Library Week. Libraries are a necessary resource in every community. While literacy and simply reading for fun is hugely important, libraries bring so much more to the community than that.

Libraries provide heat in the winter and AC in the summer, Wi-Fi and computer access, safe fun for people of all ages and libraries provide this all for free. When I first moved to Creston, the library is where I went to get everything set up for my new life. I needed to set up my electric, my insurance, even my Wi-Fi, which I of, course, couldn’t do without Wi-Fi.

I know plenty of people who have gone to the library to create job resumes and prepare for interviews, receiving help from the wonderful staff. I know people whose parents couldn’t afford to buy all the best and newest toys and books but were still able to feel included and connect with their peers because of the library.

The point of this is that libraries are important. Taking any services away from them could result in lower circulation and library attendance. When these numbers drop, it’s easier for government organizations, be it city, state or federal, to take away some of the funding. This goes back and forth in a terrible cycle, taking a vital community resource away from those who desperately need it.

This National Library Week, I’m asking that you go out of your way to support your local library and similar organizations. There are thousands of ways to do this, but I’ll list just a few.

• Visit Gibson Memorial - Whether you’re coming to check out a book or movie, attending an event or even just checking out the facility, walking through those doors makes a difference.
• Donate to the library or literary organizations - Whether it be improvements to the building or simply buying more books, donations are incredibly important to libraries. This week, audiobook app Libro.fm is providing readers with a free audiobook credit when they donate $15 or more to their local library or the American Library Association. More information can be found at blog.libro.fm/libraryweek.
• Reach out to your local politicians - Call, email, tweet (I guess “X”?), even send snail mail, whatever you have to do to get across the fact that libraries matter. While it’s always good remind the state officials, in this case I would focus on U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, as well as U.S. Representative Zach Nunn. Even if they don’t respond, the more of this message they get, the better.
• Share your love of the library - Email Gibson Memorial Library staff to tell them why they matter. Post on Facebook what the library means to you. Any support is a good thing.