Libraries: Why I love them...

I actually have had a love - hate relationship with libraries my whole life!

The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about libraries. Seed Pods is a SmallStack community project designed to help smaller publications lift each other up by publishing and cross-promoting around a common theme. We’re helping each other plant the seeds for growth!
Learn more about SmallStack here.

This is Part One:

Why do I love libraries? Why do I hate libraries?

I love libraries and defend them. We shouldn't oversimplify their greatness (free books!! Free summer youth programs!!! but work to protect what we love.

You love your library. Good for you. Do you support it by paying taxes regularly? Do you volunteer? Do you go to the city council or school board meetings where outraged people spew their biased venom about the books their children are "forced" to read?

Good. You know that if you love libraries, you must fight for them. You have to listen to the spewers and vote against them anyway. You can't turn into a spewer and shout at them how wrong they are.

So don't say, "If you only knew an LGBTQ X person / Person Of Color/ Liberal person, you'd know they're just like you..."
Say, "Our public library is free for anyone to use. It's a place where your personal liberty is guaranteed. The police can't learn what you check out. Not without a valid warrant. Your family can’t even get that information... it's the right to freedom of speech guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States.
"And by the way, this public library has material by: [name some conservative authors] who mostly support your point of view. In America, we are free to disagree. And that's why our Library will continue to have all these different books on hand."

You'll get applause from library staff and the people who think the way you do. Some people may say, "Where are those books you mentioned?"

But people love their outrage. It's easier to react than think first and then act.

Want to see more posts from this Seed Pod or join in on the fun? Keep reading the next few issues from Z Words.
Head over to our thread to learn more!

But really, there’s another more personal reason I love and hate and love libraries: It’s because they provided a refuge in my teen years. And an education away from school…

So keep reading Z Words for more about why I love and sometimes hate libraries. (but I don’t hate them the way they do in Parks & Recreation).

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