Save our libraries

I was shocked to discover Monday that Gov Strickland wants to slash the library budget in half on June 30th. This effectively closes many of the smaller libraries and will change all libraries in Ohio as we know them. Many of you know that I work at a library in a small community and have discovered since I started work there that libraries are a lifeline for many families. Government agencies regularly refer people to their local library for help in submitting a job application on line. I can't tell you how many times a day someone comes and asks for help from a librarian because for the first time in their life they have to put together a resume on line and then e mail it to a company because they have lost their job. It is heartbreaking to see men and women who already have had to navigate the unemployment agencies for the first time and now have to ask for help yet again just to apply for a job. Where will they go when the library is shut down or no longer has the staff to help?

Libraries are busier now than they have ever been. More Americans have library cards now than ever before. It is the only free unbiased source of information available to many Ohioans. How short sighted it is to even think about taking that away.

Please call Gov Strickland and visit the website www.saveohiolibraries.org. Our dear governor's phone number is (614) 466-3555. Call him and keep calling him. He has received thousands of calls but we must be relentless.