Save the Library!

From Queens Crap:

"The Queens Library last year received $5.09 for each library patron visit, about two-thirds of the amount received by the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library, which serves Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, says the report, "Library Funding: Subsidies Rebound, Disparities Remain."

I don't know about you, but I think that the library is one of the greatest public places ever devised by humankind. I'm not joking. See, they have books. And you can get a card that lets you take them home for a couple of weeks. Nowadays, using this thing called the internet you can even get your library to order books that they don't have, then hold them behind the counter just for you and nobody else. They'll even send you an email when the books come in!

And I'm not just talking fusty old classics like that broad who wrote the book they based Clueless on. I'm talking Harry Potter. I'm talking Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Oprah's Book Club, Neil Gaiman, Spiderwick, Laura Ingalls Wilder... just to name a few who may never have appeared together in the same sentence before.

The library doesn't have to be pretty, though that helps. It ought to be quiet--but that's a post for another day, because today I come to praise the library, not to bury it. Many offer woefully underfunding continuing education and ESL classes.

And if you hate to read, did you know they have CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks? Try one of the latter for your August trek in the rental to Grandma's. Who needs an SUV with a DVD player when you can have an Oscar-winning actor read you a good story?

Has this post moved you to action? Then buy the library a book.

Buy-A-Book for Queens Library
Celebrate the Library's 100th Anniversary

Funds for new books are needed more than ever. The library's budget to buy books has decreased by $4 million, while the demand for books and materials continues to increase each year!

Make your special “Buy-A-Book” gift for Queens Library’s 100th Anniversary today! Until September 30, your gift will be worth twice as much through a very generous $150,000 challenge grant provided by The Louis Calder Foundation.

Donations of $25 or more will buy books for the Library to be enjoyed by toddlers, teens, seniors, or you! As a thank you, your name, or the name of the person or organization you choose to honor, will appear on a special, limited edition commemorative 100th Anniversary bookplate in a new book.