The L.A. Times recently published an article about how reductions in public library funds (along with video games) negatively impact students. The reporter starts off by interviewing a student:
Lucero Lorenzo, 18, spent many hours of her childhood reading and drawing in the cozy confines of the Cahuenga branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.
This summer, the city sharply reduced library hours and closed all the branches every Monday. But Lorenzo is still keeping to her old routine. This Monday I found her outside the closed library in East Hollywood, huddled with a sketchpad and a notebook beside the front steps’ concrete banister.
“This is my refuge,” she said quietly. “I’ve been coming here since I was 8. Just looking at all the books, I fell in love with it.”
Sitting under the pepper tree outside while traffic zipped past on Santa Monica Boulevard wasn’t quite the same.
Anybody who has the slightest interest in public libraries or how student education is being affected in these tough economic times (which should be everybody) needs to read this article.
I’ll leave you with one more quote from the article, which I felt was particularly apt as I have had the exact same feeling when faced with library budget cuts:
Each would-be library patron stood momentarily perplexed by the large pink Xs the librarians had placed over the now-obsolete schedule affixed to the glass doors.
Standing there, listening to their stories, I could tangibly feel the loss of L.A. brain power.
Don’t let the citizens of Glenn County, students and all, lose brain power: Support your library.
Posted by Jody Meza, City Librarian Orland Free Library