Freedom Isn't Free--Neither is A Library System

It's official--as of last Saturday all fifteen branches of the Jackson County Library system here in Oregon have closed indefinitely. Someone joked to me the other day that, "the new Medford Library is the Barnes and Noble." The picture above is the Medford Library. It's only been open a couple years. The general public here voted in 2001 to build all new libraries thinking that replacement money from Washington on lost timber revenue on federal land would pay for the books and the upkeep. (The Fed controls about half the land in the county.) But now it will cost the county two millions dollars just to store the books and keep the lights and security going--no public allowed.

Rather ironic, eh?

The folks who will be hit hardest are the seniors who need big-print books and kids from low-income families who will lose out on all the "story time" outings the library provides. Plus all the moms I used to see load up on a dozen or so books to read their young ones so they can have a broad selection of bedtime story material.

I know the public library isn't quite the vital source it used to be to many people. But I was in the place here locally once a week. Browsing in the stacks and just picking a magazine with a n article that just strikes you as interesting and then sitting down in a quiet place and reading is one of the joys of a day off in a free society. And like most people my age, I cut my teeth as an independent reader at the local library. The first card I had to carry in a wallet was a library card! Anyway, no body's sure if the local ballot initiative to fund the libraries here without aid from Washington will pass or not. After that, there's talk of a library district measure to go to the voters in November.

Whatever happens, at this point things can only get better. And, although other public services in Jackson are getting hit hard, we are still luckier than coastal counties like Curry (Brookings/Gold Beach) and Josephine (Grants Pass) which are losing even more in road repair money and police and sheriff patrols and greater jail overcrowding problems leading to early release of felons, etc.

(more later)