“Grateful for our Libraries” Illene Pevec
We are very lucky in Garfield County to have Jamie LaRue as head of our Garfield County Library District. He gave an informative, very interesting presentation on the history of efforts at book banning in the United States Tuesday evening in the Carbondale branch. He explained the very careful procedure our district goes through if a person requests that a book be removed from the shelves. To date, no books have been removed after careful vetting. He made it clear that our libraries exist to serve everyone.
To me, libraries are the bedrock of our democracy. They are free and serve everyone. Knowledge and entertainment are at our fingertips and we can even access books, periodicals, and movies at home using the apps to borrow electronic media. I never thought I would read a book on my phone, but I find that medium useful while traveling.
Our libraries offer speakers, exercise classes, book launches, documentaries, computer access, study rooms, community rooms that all nonprofit groups can use for free, and a kind, helpful staff to help us all find what we want.
Illène Pevec, Carbondale