Library Advocate

The Case Against Summer Vacation

2010-07-23T14:50:00.001-04:00

David Von Drehle - Thursday, Jul. 22, 2010

The following is an abridged version of an article that appears in the August 2, print and iPad editions of TIME magazine.

Blame Tom Sawyer: Americans have a skewed view of childhood and summertime. We associate the school year with oppression and the summer months with liberty. School is regimen; summer is creativity. School is work and summer is play. But when American students are competing with children around the globe who may be spending four weeks longer in school each year, larking through summer is a luxury we can't afford. What's more, for many children — especially children of low-income families — summer is a season of boredom, inactivity and isolation.

Deprived of healthy stimulation, millions of low-income kids lose a significant amount of what they learn during the school year. Call it "summer learning loss," as the academics do, or "the summer slide," but by any name summer is among the most pernicious — if least acknowledged — causes of achievement gaps in America's schools. Children with access to high-quality experiences can exercise their minds and bodies at sleep-away camp, on family vacations, in museums and libraries and enrichment classes. Meanwhile, children without resources languish on street corners or in front of glowing screens. By the time the bell rings on a new school year, the poorer kids have fallen weeks, if not months, behind. And even well-off American students may be falling behind their peers around the world.

And what starts as a hiccup in a 6-year-old's education can be a crisis by the time that child reaches high school. A major study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University concluded that while students made similar progress during the school year, regardless of economic status, the better-off kids held steady or continued to advance during the summer — while disadvantaged students fell back. By the end of grammar school, low-income students had fallen nearly three grade levels behind. By ninth grade, roughly two-thirds of the learning gap separating income groups could be blamed on summer learning loss.

"There is an idyllic view of summer, but we've known for decades that the reality is very different for a lot of underprivileged kids," says Ron Fairchild, CEO of a non-profit organization in Baltimore called the National Summer Learning Association.

Fairchild and his organization are part of a growing movement to stop the summer slide by coordinating, expanding, and improving summer enrichment programs — especially for low-income children. Supporters include some of the nation's largest private foundations. But as reformers strive to redeem summer as an educational resource, the trick is to seize the opportunity without destroying what's best about the season: the possibility of fun and freedom and play.

In Indianapolis a group of local philanthropies, led by the Lilly Endowment, decided in the 1990s to coordinate their efforts to provide safe places for children when they weren't in school. In recent years, says Lilly's Willis Bright, the focus has increasingly been on "the learning element" — a critical need, given that the Indianapolis Public Schools graduate fewer than half of their students. "But that doesn't mean you make it just another classroom," Bright adds. "You can teach physics with a basketball."

Grants from the group support everything from field trips to teacher salaries. Third and fourth graders at the Hawthorne Community Center in West Indianapolis learn pre-algebra thanks to the local donors, while other students explore plant science at an urban garden created by retired biochemist Aster Bekele. The strategy is to build on the city's existing patchwork of day camps, community centers, sports camps and summer jobs programs. Improve quality while keeping costs low.

But demand outstrips supply. Experts believe that a majority of the 30 million American kids poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches do not attend any kind of summer enrichment program.

The obvious way to reach a much larger group is through the public schools. And indeed, education reformers have been talking about lengthening the school year to make America's students more competitive for at least a generation. Long summer holidays are the legacy of our vanished agrarian past, when kids were needed in the fields during the growing season.

Cincinnati's public schools are tackling the problem of summer learning loss through a program called "Fifth Quarter," offering an additional month of classes in 16 schools serving low-income students. Houston schools offer four weeks of math and science education for at-risk students.

In the Appalachian town of Corbin, Kentucky, public school administrator Karen West has built a 10-week operation, running 10 hours per day, from the day after school lets out until the day before classes resume.

For Ron Fairchild, successes like these show the possibilities in a new approach to summer school. "That phrase has such a bad ring to it," he notes. "We need to push school districts to frame summer school as a good thing, something extra — not a punishment. There is a cultural barrier that we have to overcome. We're not The Grinch That Stole Summer Vacation."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2005654,00.html#ixzz0uX3C6vjE

A Tribute to Roddenbery Memorial Library

2010-07-21T18:00:00.000-04:00

by Joe Jennette

Roddenbery Memorial Library is the cultural heart of Cairo and Grady County, Georgia. Its stately presence next to the Court House acknowledges its prominent position in the civic and cultural life of our community. I’d be willing to bet that no library in Georgia can outrank our library in providing all the blessing we enjoy but, I fear, we have come to take for granted.

The library is our collective living room, where we can visit with friends and neighbors and welcome with pride any visitors who might be in town and want to check out this “attraction” they read about on the city and county web sites--visitors who might be seriously looking for a good place to settle and raise their families. Our “living room” is there at the library, and we do not have to worry about keeping it presentable for company, for it is always immaculate.

At the library we can seek advice on any subject and be guided by the staff to just the right reference, a reference we can rely on to give us the most up-to-date, authentic information available. We can find that book we have been led to read in the library, or it can be sent from another library for us by way of the intra-PINES or interlibrary loan system. In effect we have the library of the whole state of Georgia available to us. The latest issue of a periodical or newspaper is there for us. An excellent collection of carefully selected DVDs and CDs can be checked out.

And, there is free access to the Internet for a wealth of information from all over the world. Here again, the knowledgeable staff can guide us through the web to find the information we seek, info that may be the opening to a new job or career. We can reserve one of the two meeting rooms free of charge for any gathering of special interest groups. Or watch our children become enlightened with the wonderful children’s activities that will set their standards for reading and interaction with others for the rest of their lives--and so on. Our library is indispensable for the well being of our community.

We owe so much to the hard work and genuine devotion of all the librarians and members of the Board of Trustees who have steered the library along the way from a WPA project back in 1939, located on the second floor of the City Hall, to the beautiful facility we enjoy today.

We can thank Alan Kaye, the present director, for his leadership in establishing and continually updating the state-of-the-art computer system we now enjoy. Alan has been able to keep the building and property in top shape with constant preventative maintenance. This includes the latest energy efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, not only for energy cost savings, but to ensure the quality of air we breathe exceeds the standards required by public health laws.

Alan and the staff have been able to keep and enhance the top quality of all the services of the library we have come to expect as representing our cultural spirit. The immaculately landscaped grounds and courtyard are a joy to see and walk through each time we visit. The Annex has been turned into a proper companion to the main building with its new roof and interior renovation. The book, reference and resource collection all in the care of a well qualified staff rank among the best of any library of similar size in the country. And yet all of these features we enjoy have been maintained for us by this valiant staff and board with funds that have shrunk dramatically over the past few years. Thank you Mr. Kaye and all the Friends of the Library who have donated money and services to help Alan keep RML alive and well.

To Cindy Johnson and the others who helped in converting the “back door” off the parking lot to the delightful East entrance with its classic trellised pick-up/drop-off area and terraced walkways leading up to the door of the library and entrance to the Annex we use so frequently. All of it beautifully landscaped in such a way that we would not be ashamed to tell any visitor to come on in through the “back door.”

To Tom Lehman, member of the Board of Trustees, for his leadership in the fund raising campaign for the expansion of the building to its present configuration back in 1988. This added the auditorium and children’s room plus other areas. His efforts gave the library $300,000 cash collected from our community—a gift we are so grateful for today. Thank you Tom and all those who contributed to this effort.

To the Roddenbery family, we are forever grateful for their generous gift of the property and original building, for their support through the years to make sure their namesake stays presentable in appearance and serves all of us as Mr. Roddenbery wished.

But it is to Miss Wessie Connell we owe the very essence of the life of our library. As a WPA worker back in the upstairs of City Hall, she recognized the need for a proper library in the overall well being of her community, and she dedicated her life to seeing that need fulfilled. Without the care and devotion of Miss Wessie we would not have the first-class library we enjoy today. I can feel Miss Wessie crying out for help in her soft but persuasive way for us to keep the quality of library service alive and well for all the people--a service she and the dedicated directors after her have spent so much of their lives to give us.

These gifts we cannot ignore and shrug off with an “Oh well, times have changed” frame of mind and rationalize that we really don’t need a library in this age of computers. This train of thought is about as far from reality as you can get. Wake up folks, look around and see that our library is in more demand for services today than ever before. That our library is providing more of all types of quality educational, literary and public services than ever before. That the demand for these services increases every year, especially recently with the economic downturn that has been thrust upon us. We cannot ignore the need for a safe haven for all citizens to enter with the hope that here they can find the resources needed to survive these tough economic times.

This legacy we have been given we pledge to hand on to generations to come. We cannot afford to deny our children the benefits our library provides us today. Do whatever you can to ensure this wonderful legacy remains healthy. Donate to the fund raising effort now going on, but of equal importance, spread the word to all who are not aware of our library’s quality services. Let the library and our elected officials know what our library means to you and your children. Let Miss Wessie know that you hear her calling and are on the way with help.

Joe Jennette, Library Advocate

U.S. Public Libraries: We Lose Them at Our Peril

2010-07-12T09:44:00.005-04:00

by Marilyn Johnson
printed in the Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2010

The U.S. is beginning an interesting experiment in democracy: We're cutting public library funds, shrinking our public and school libraries, and in some places, shutting them altogether.

These actions have nothing to do with whether the libraries are any good or whether the staff provides useful service to the community. This country's largest circulating library, in Queens, N.Y., was named the best system in the U.S. last year by Library Journal. Its budget is due to shrink by a third. Los Angeles libraries are being slashed, and beginning this week, the doors will be locked two days a week and at least 100 jobs cut. And until it got a six-month reprieve June 23, Siskiyou County almost became California's only county without a public library. Such cuts and close calls are happening across the country. We won't miss a third of our librarians and branch libraries the way we'd miss a third of our firefighters and firehouses, the rationale goes … but I wonder.

I've spent four years following librarians as they deal with the tremendous increase in information and the many ways we receive it. They've been adapting as capably as any profession, managing our public computers and serving growing numbers of patrons, but it seems that their work has been all but invisible to those in power. I've talked to librarians whose jobs have expanded with the demand for computers and training, and because so many other government services are being cut. The people left in the lurch have looked to the library, where kind, knowledgeable professionals help them navigate the government bureaucracy, apply for benefits, access social services. Public officials will tell you they love libraries and are committed to them; they just don't believe they constitute a "core" service.

But if you visit public libraries, you will see an essential service in action, as librarians help people who don't have other ways to get online, can't get the answers they urgently need, or simply need a safe place to bring their children. I've stood in the parking lot of the Topeka and Shawnee County Library in Kansas on a Sunday morning and watched families pour through doors and head in all directions to do homework or genealogical research, attend computer classes, read the newspapers. I've stood outside New York city libraries with other self-employed people, waiting for the doors to open and give us access to the computers and a warm and affordable place to work. I've met librarians who serve as interpreters and guides to communities of cancer survivors, Polish-speaking citizens, teenage filmmakers, veterans.

The people who welcome us to the library are idealists, who believe that accurate information leads to good decisions and that exposure to the intellectual riches of civilization leads to a better world. The next Abraham Lincoln could be sitting in their library, teaching himself all he needs to know to save the country. While they help us get online, employed and informed, librarians don't try to sell us anything. Nor do they turn around and broadcast our problems, send us spam or keep a record of our interests and needs, because no matter how savvy this profession is at navigating the online world, it clings to that old-fashioned value, privacy. (A profession dedicated to privacy in charge of our public computers? That's brilliant.) They represent the best civic value out there, an army of resourceful workers that can help us compete in the world.

But instead of putting such conscientious, economical and service-oriented professionals to work helping us, we're handing them pink slips. The school libraries and public libraries in which we've invested decades and even centuries of resources will disappear unless we fight for them. The communities that treasure and support their libraries will have an undeniable competitive advantage. Those that don't will watch in envy as the Darien Library in Connecticut hosts networking breakfasts for its out-of-work patrons, and the tiny Gilpin County Public Library in Colorado beckons patrons with a sign that promises "Free coffee, Internet, notary, phone, smiles, restrooms and ideas."

Those lucky enough to live in those towns, or those who own computers, or have high-speed Internet service and on-call technical assistance, will not notice the effects of a diminished public library system — not at first. Whizzes who can whittle down 15 million hits on a Google search to find the useful and accurate bits of info, and those able to buy any book or article or film they want, will escape the immediate consequences of these cuts.

Those in cities that haven't preserved their libraries, those less fortunate and baffled by technology, and our children will be the first to suffer. But sooner or later, we'll all feel the loss as one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention — one of the great engines of democracy — begins to disappear.

Marilyn Johnson is the author of, most recently, "This Book Is Overdue!"
[Who would ever have thought that Grady County, Georgia, would be at the front of the line to participate in this "experiment!" Maybe we can turn the tide! --Alan]

Comments from a Student

2010-07-08T11:34:00.000-04:00

To whom it may concern,

Roddenbery Memorial Library has been a treasure to the children, teens, and adults. I am a teen that often comes to this wonderful library. I have been coming here for a very long time. Since you cut some of the funds here, the library is going downhill. They are going to start having to close the library on Saturdays! That is the only time some people can come. I believe instead of cutting funds for education, why don't you cut it for fast food restaurants? Fast food kills some people, but a library helps them grow. Please put what I have said to thought and give the library more funds!

Thanks,
Nikki Anderson

Fox News vs. Chicago Area Libraries

2010-07-08T10:20:00.000-04:00

A room with a view ... New York Public Library's public reading room.
Photograph: Reuters Photographer / Reuters/X90033

Chicago's public library commissioner has hit back at a report on Fox News that suggested libraries are a "waste of tax money", saying that the argument posed by the story was a "non-starter" and a contributor who suggested salaries in the public sector were higher than those in the private sector was "simply wrong".

Last week's Fox News slot on Chicago's libraries saw the right wing American television channel question whether they were still needed. "There are 799 public libraries in Illinois. And they're busy. People borrow more than 88m times a year. But keeping libraries running costs big money. In Chicago, the city pumps $120m a year into them. A full 2.5% of our yearly property taxes go to fund them. That's money that could go elsewhere – like for schools ... police or pensions," the Fox report said. "Libraries are quiet havens for the community. They can take you to another world ... But should these institutions – that date back to 1900 BC – be on the way out?"

Now, the Chicago public library commissioner, Mary A Dempsey, has responded, saying that she was "astounded at the lack of understanding" the Fox report showed and pointing to the 12 million visitors that Chicago's public libraries receive every year, the 10 million items checked out from the libraries' 74 locations in 2009 and the 3.8 million free one-hour internet sessions the people of Chicago used last year.

She took particular issue with an "undercover" section of the report, which counted about 300 visitors using the Harold Washington library over the course of one hour. "Most of them were using the free internet. The bookshelves weren't so busy," said Fox.

"Your 'undercover cameras' shots were taken in a series of stacks devoted to bound periodicals used for reference. Next time, try looking at the circulating collections throughout the building," responded Dempsey in a letter to Fox.

"The public library is supported by taxpayers for the common good of all the people of Chicago – just like public school. We don't ask our schools to make profit. Neither should we ask it of the public library," she said. "As journalist Walter Cronkite once remarked, 'Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.'"

Augusta's New Library Offers a Lot

2010-06-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

Augusta's new $24 million library opened on June 25 following a 10:00 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremony.

The opening will be followed with a week of activities for young and old, beginning with NASCAR and Richmond County fire truck displays, an afternoon clown and magician show and an evening event with author Dorothea Benton Frank.

On top of that, there will be 22,000 new books on the shelves.

The opening is the culmination of five years of planning and work by Richmond County Library Board President Jane Howington; Gary Swint, director of the East Central Georgia Regional Library; Hugh Connolly, incorporator and honorary chairman of the Library Foundation and Millie Klosinski, development officer, as well as the library board and staff.

The library was built with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax money, $2 million from the state, and additional funding from the foundation board's capital campaign to raise $3 million.

The 95,000-square-foot building at 823 Telfair St. was designed by the Craig Gaulden Davis architectural firm of Greenville, S.C., and built by R.W. Allen Construction.

"I think the new library will be what Augusta deserves and has deserved for a long time," Swint said. "It will be a library that's for modern day. We have information from past ages, but we're also looking toward the future." (cont'd in The Augusta Chronicle)

Video: What Is a Public Library?

2010-06-18T18:35:00.002-04:00

Pause for Thought

2010-06-17T22:50:00.000-04:00

Libraries Throughout a Lifetime

2010-06-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

By James LaRue of Colorado

As director of Douglas County Libraries, I have witnessed firsthand the tremendous growth and development of many individuals in the communities we serve. I’ve come to recognize that the true significance of our profession is simply this: we’re there.

We’re there throughout all of the various phases of life, from birth to childhood, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood and beyond. We provide a host of customized offerings, for everybody, at every phase. We help individuals through every possible transition of life. The library as an institution assembles the public around activities that promote the public good—literacy, lifelong learning, civic engagement and culture. Together, libraries encourage our communities to be both more civilized and more interesting.

The odds are good that at least one of these big life transitions—or the many smaller transitions that occur within one’s lifetime (such as a job change or health crisis) will catch people off guard.

And there we are: with books and databases and programs on healthy pregnancy, on early brain development, on support for education, on the issues of young adulthood, on career planning, on rearing children and relationships, on retirement, and on estate planning.

What is at times “a nice thing to have” suddenly becomes absolutely essential to navigating times of profound transformation. And we’re there, as an established community partner, with professionals trained to guide people quickly and confidentially to the sources that make a difference. Libraries are for all the phases of our all too complicated lives.

James LaRue, Director
Douglas County Libraries
Castle Rock, Colorado

Letter from Sharada in Ecuador!

2010-06-16T16:01:00.003-04:00

Dear Grady County Board of Education Members,

I was recently informed that the local Roddenbery Library has been forced to reduce hours (including no Saturdays) in order to accommodate recent budget cuts.

I am writing this email to urge you to reconsider funding for the library. As a former resident of Whigham and Cairo, Georgia, I utilized library resources immensely as a customer and as a high school student worker. The library equipped me with skills that I still use today as a student at Stanford University in California. In fact, I am currently in Ecuador working with the CARE International Aid Organization in order to help them reorganize their library materials and resources. RML helped me gain the skills to earn this fellowship opportunity.

I would also like to point out that the library is an invaluable resource for improving education in South Georgia. With reduced hours, parents cannot take their students to the library on Saturdays. After working at RML for two years, I have come to know several families that regularly visit the library on Saturday.

Additionally, as a student from a low income family, working on Saturdays at the library helped me support myself and my family. Without hours on Saturdays, high school students, who work at the library, will face significant pay cuts.

I ask you to please reconsider and utilize one of the best resources in Grady County to the fullest. I personally know that Education is the key to success. The reduced budget moves South Georgia one step back rather than forward in improving academics.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Sharada Jambulapati
Stanford University Class of 2012
B.A. International Relations

Madison County Library: Money in Budget for Library Growth

2010-06-11T23:57:00.002-04:00

Athens Banner-Herald

The Athens Regional Library System received $2.1 million to expand its Madison County Library branch in the budget Gov. Sonny Perdue signed Tuesday.

The grant will help pay for adding 7,500 square feet to the 10,000-square-foot library on Georgia Highway 98 west of downtown Danielsville. The expansion will include a children's area, a young adult area and a computer lab.

Madison County is contributing $587,000 in sales tax revenue to the project. Construction is expected to start in November and take about a year to finish.

Letter to the Messenger Editor from Margaret Tyson

2010-06-09T16:50:00.000-04:00

Dear Editor,

I walked in the library on Thursday to find they will close their doors on Saturdays beginning July 3. I still am stunned. From what I understand, the school board did not fund the library for the upcoming year, and both the county and city have not made their commitment, waiting out each other to see what dollar amount the “other” will fund.

I realized when telling a friend I would have very limited access to my own library because I have a job in Thomasville. If I do not go to the library on the three days it is open to 7 p.m., I will have no access. As a tax payer and supporter,
this is unacceptable.

I cannot fathom a community government that does not value and readily support a community library. This is disgraceful and frightening. The commissioners have a photo of the library on their website.

The library is known throughout the state and, at the least, regionally as one
of the best. The chamber uses the library as a calling card for businesses and those wanting to learn more about our community to determine if they will move here to retire or raise their kids. It has been a community pillar for decades.

I ask all who read this and question the wisdom of this disregard for one of Cairo’s
and Grady County’s greatest resources to speak up now! Think about what your family’s access may be. I am listing the community officials who need to hear from us.

Roddenbery Memorial Library should be funded fully and available to all our community.

City Government:

Richard VanLandingham 377-1140
Ernest Cloud 377-3592
Jimmy Douglas 377-5808
Bobby Gwaltney 377-3000
Lannis Thornton 377-8332

County Government:

Al Ball 377-8089
Charles Renaud 377-8677
Bobby Burns 377-4507
Elwyn Childs 377-1275
Charlie Norton 377-6255

School Board:

Drew Pyrz 378-8011
Teresa Gee Harris 377-2933
Joe Porter 377-8536
Cuy Harrell 762-4528
Byron Puckett 377-2260
Supt. Tommy Pharis 377-9383

Thank you,
Margaret Tyson

Get a Cardboard Fan and Support RML!

2010-06-09T14:59:00.004-04:00

SOWEGA Libraries are informally cooperative library systems throughout southwest Georgia, including Roddenbery Memorial. These fans can be seen in places from Quitman all the way to Pine Mountain and are being distributed by the SOWEGA libraries during Vacation Reading Program.

Photo of East Entrance Area by Joe Jennette

2010-06-09T14:48:00.002-04:00

Column from the June 2010 Library Advocate

2010-06-09T14:42:00.001-04:00

Every year in late spring there is a lot of concern about the library, because in budget planning there are always forces working against continued library funding. Just as the contestants get thrown off American Idol in April and May, the library delegation gets tossed to and fro in budget hearings.

The RML history file on the library is filled with articles about “library funding in crisis.” One reason for having Library Advocate in print and online is to keep the fire burning all through the year, so the community has an even-handed, well articulated, and widely understood position on public library service to which local government can respond by providing resources for the services we need. If we move to a more stable funding situation soon, maybe funding crises can remain at bay, but we should continue to be proactive in detailing a vision.

Is the recession turning the library into political road kill? My favorite headline in The Cairo Messenger is the one in which several cows were struck by lightning under a pecan tree south of town, and the front page had them all belly-up, feet in the air, ready to be hauled off to the landfill. Here’s a news bulletin: Public library service is not headed in that direction, here or in other places.

I’ll even go out on a limb and say that your local government does not intend for that to happen to Roddenbery Memorial Library. Surely it will change and adapt in future years, but there will be an important place for it in the lives of county residents yet unborn. Gone with the Wind scenarios should be set aside, so we can give our elected officials and other stakeholders in the county full credit for wanting to do the right thing and keep library service working.

Together we will make many decisions to create the best design for our future community. Imagine Cairo in 2075. Is the library gone and good riddance? I think not—but what will it be like?

There are plenty of bad things about The Great Recession, but one positive effect is that the lifelong learning and information services of public libraries are starting to be transformed by it. What should we save? How should we change? What life enhancements that come from the library have meant the most to us? Be sure to check in frequently and read Library Advocate for some good ideas and significant thinking on library service and your future. --Alan

Letter from a Successful Grady County Native

2010-06-07T12:19:00.002-04:00

I’ve been saddened to hear about the budget limitations Cairo has extended to Roddenbery Memorial Library, and I urge Grady County’s leaders to protect against further erosion of the library’s budget. I believe the library’s budget deserves priority in a time when being well-informed through the resources available at the library helps our citizens find a way through these tough economic times.

One of my most treasured and influential resources growing up in Grady County has been the library. I spent many hours in the library and I credit the library with helping me get ahead in this Information Age. I remember being motivated by the library’s summer reading program to keep me steady with learning year-round, a momentum that carried me through to finishing my doctorate.

Plus, my first job was shelving books at the library. I also took my first leadership position outside of Cairo High School by joining the Friends of the Library executive committee as a student member. Both of these turned out to be excellent experiences that helped me land the library job at college that helped pay for higher education. Having grown up in a humble part of rural Grady County, I’m not sure I would have managed to get an Ivy League education if it weren’t for the library helping to prepare me.

Having benefited tremendously from Roddenbery Memorial Library in my younger years, I urge Grady County leaders to keep priorities straight in budget considerations. With the county’s education budget already cut, it’s important to protect the opportunities the library provides to young people of Grady County. The voices of our next generation might not be heard during budgeting meetings, so it’s particularly important that we think of them and stand up to prevent the lost opportunities that accompany additional library budget losses. Please feel free to share this message openly. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Dorje Jennette, Doctor of Psychology

[Dorje Jennette, homeschooled until high school, was the CHS valedictorian in 1995.]

Letter from a Homeschooling Mom

2010-06-04T16:42:00.000-04:00

As a mother of four, home schooling my children, I have relied heavily on my local library for many years as an educational resource. Not only have I relied on the gracious supply of materials but also on the knowledge and willingness of the staff.

Time at the library became a regular part of our day when my second child was in a local preschool program. My, then, five-year-old and I spent the morning preschool hours in the children’s room doing little more than developing a love of reading. During the next two years my son was guided and encouraged by two very caring and gifted children’s librarians.

The many families in Grady County that chose to or need to home school their children have one thing in common, a relationship with Roddenbery Memorial Library. For this reason the library is often a place to connect with other home schooling families. My boys and two of their closest friends began their friendship during these early years frequenting the library, finding common interests in reading materials and endless games of chess. Now that they are older, they continue their reliance on the library when they need materials for a literature class or a research project. There is no better place for a group of our home schoolers to get together to work on projects, research, or prepare for debates or oral presentations.

Any time that I have needed help finding materials for my home school program, the library staff has gone above and beyond to help me get what I needed. A week does not go by that I don’t leave with an arm load of reading materials for preschool, elementary, and high school. My library is a valuable resource for supplementing my home school program.

Not only can I count on my library for materials and knowledgeable staff, this is also the first place that my boys had the opportunity to volunteer their time. They have all been able to put in hours of service and learn the importance of volunteering. This library has also played a role in the success of our small groups. Not only has RML served as a meeting place for small home school groups but also for independent 4-H project clubs and Cub Scout projects. These small groups use our library to accomplish tasks involving genealogy, civics, technology, and even community service.

Sincerely, Jenifer Womble

Collage by Joe Jennette

2010-06-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

Letter to the Messenger Editor from Deborah Valentine

2010-06-01T11:18:00.002-04:00

Today I purchased a paper fan at Roddenbery Memorial Library. It reads, “A Library Fan, Love My Library.” These are truly my sentiments. I returned movies and a book today, went online, and took out some more books. The same librarian who helped me when I was “stuck” on the Internet also helped me find books on a subject she has specific knowledge on.

Memories of the numerous libraries in my life sweep over me, from shabby to elegant, small to several stories high. RML is the gem of them all. With the legacy of the wonderful Miss Wessie as its founding mother, Miss Teresa’s creative children’s programs, the always amicable staff, the beauty of the building and grounds, the auditorium available for use to the public—not to mention the inventory of books, music, movies, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and interlibrary loan—how could we do without it?

RML patroness, Deborah Valentine

Letter to the Library Board

2010-05-28T15:19:00.001-04:00

I want to thank you so much for all that you do for our community. I have three children, all of whom have benefited from the library. My two-year-old twins are regular attendees at the preschool story time. I like that they are in an environment where they are learning to sit quietly and listen to a story. They enjoy the songs and crafts that Mrs. Teresa has for them each week.

Anytime I ask them if they would like to go to the library, they jump up and down excitedly. If I ask them what they learned, they are beginning to be able to tell me what the stories were about. They even end our story time at home with, "Give yourselves a hand," a phrase they have learned from Mrs. Teresa. I am so grateful that they have the opportunity to be in a place where they can learn to love books and associate reading with such a fun experience.

My six-year-old son is a kindergartner at Whigham Elementary. One of the assignments for his class at school this year has been to read books. We have checked out many books from the library to supplement his reading. Mrs. Nora has been especially helpful at finding books that suit his interests. He developed an interest in The Titanic this year, and when I mentioned it to her, she said, "Oh, we've got some books that he would love."

She helped me select books that focused more on the boat and less on the death that came from the wreck (I did not want him to have nightmares). She has also helped us to find books about trains, his perennial favorite. One in particular we read over and over. I though we knew everything about trains by now, but it was so informative without being overly difficult for him. He is looking forward to the summer reading program.

We are fortunate to have the library here in Grady County. The staff is outstanding, and the program for children adds so much to their enjoyment and education. I majored in English in college and have had a lifelong love of books. I want my children to love books as well, since I believe good books can open up the world for them.

Rebecca Duke-Barton

Visiting Author Impressed

2010-05-25T10:31:00.001-04:00

Letter to the Editor of The Cairo Messenger

I had the pleasure of visiting Cairo last week as guest of the Roddenbery Memorial Library. I am the author of several works of fiction set in the rural south, as well as a contributor to magazines on a number of subjects, including especially Georgia history. I was invited by library director Alan Kaye who had been kind enough to schedule speaking engagements at the Cairo Rotary Club, the Cairo High School and at a public gathering sponsored by supporters of the library.

I am writing to thank the people of Cairo for their warm and enthusiastic reception and to compliment your community on the excellent library that they have built and supported over the years.

Part of the “job” of being an author is promoting one’s works through book signings, public speaking, participation in writers’ conferences and the like. As a consequence, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of libraries across Georgia and in adjacent states. I was quite impressed with your local library and the devotion and commitment of its staff and management. I had a bit of free time in my schedule and spent most of an afternoon there working on my next novel.

One couldn’t help but notice the number of people who took advantage of the library’s services, and the positive way in which the staff was eager to assist readers, job seekers, internet users and others. In today’s world where even the most rural communities are tied into national and international commerce, education and literacy are all important for economic survival. Cairo and Grady County is fortunate to have such a fine facility and dedicated staff.

I appreciate the community’s hospitality, and hope to have the opportunity to visit again soon.

Sincerely yours, William Rawlings

Prefer Full Funding

2010-05-25T10:26:00.000-04:00

Letter to the Editor of The Cairo Messenger

Our public library provides a wealth of social services to our community and offers an opportunity for all residents to inform and educate themselves. Our library is funded through our tax dollars by the Board of Education (1/4), the County Commission (1/4) and the City of Cairo (1/2). The Board of Education is considering not funding the library at all and the city and county both would like big cuts.

Reducing funds for our library will reduce the well-being of our community. Please let your elected officials know that you favor full funding. And if they say they don’t have the money, ask them to stop spending our tax dollars on profit driven speculation.

Peter Wright

The Library Is a Necessity

2010-05-14T17:10:00.004-04:00

By Claire Hamner Matturro

Cairo’s threatened Roddenbery Memorial Library needs your help.

In a civilized, Democratic culture such as ours, a library like Roddenbery is not a luxury. Roddenbery Memorial Library, like any public library, is a necessity.

While a library might not come immediately to mind as equivalent to food, clothing and shelter, a library offers resources that make a free, civilized society function properly. And without the safe environment of a democratic social system, even food, clothing and shelter would soon become problematic.

To a poor person who needs the library to get education and a job, a library has a big part in the quest for food, shelter and clothing. And to a culture beset as ours is with so many huge problems, informed citizens, literate and skilled workers, educated voters and enlightened participants are vital to keeping our society working and developing, so that we can provide ourselves with necessities. A library is one of the main ingredients in a culture that protects and provides our food, shelter and clothing, and, therefore, becomes itself, a necessity.

In a large scale picture, a library is one of the many essential tools that keep a democratic culture working as a Democratic society. The political system known as a democracy requires the participation of an educated body of people. We have all heard the phrase "informed voter" and the concept is simple: one needs a certain degree of knowledge to make meaningful choices at the election booth. Without that knowledge, one’s vote could easily be captured by demigods and despots. Where does this basic knowledge come from: libraries, news media, and public and private education. Make no mistake that in the days of declining newspaper readership, failing public schools, and loss of faith in main stream media, a library that offers a whole host of informational sources has an irreplaceable value. A library by definition offers us magazines, books, on-line resources and archives of materials that will help us check claims politicians make and to study the issues and to learn more about any candidates’ background, and therefore make our votes count.

On a small scale picture, a library is a necessity to a multitude of individuals needing the resources for learning that it provides. A public library is a great equalizer in this country, much like public education. As a society, we love the rags-to-riches stories of people who succeed despite poverty or disabilities or country of origin. One of the keys in most of these stories is the person’s drive for knowledge and education–and here the library opens its doors. A student too poor to buy the GED materials can come to a library and study to pass his or her high school equivalency test.

This works equally for other college and vocational admission tests... An able but poor student can find the educational resources at a public library to study and do well on tests that hold to key to a more productive life.

And it is not just paper resources and testing materials that aid our cultural necessity of an educated population. No one can seriously question the role of a personal computer and Internet access to the educational process in our world today. A public school student whose parents cannot afford a home computer and Internet access can come to the library and use the computers there.

These public computers not only allow students to fulfill their academic requirements and conduct research, but they allow people a means to find jobs and apply on-line. How many people are frustrated to find that the old system of employment want ads in the newspaper and paper applications forms have given way to online employment services? Those people, who do not have the skills or computer resources, can come to a public library and knowledgeable librarians will help them find job hunting resources and apply on line.

And for the few remaining job applications that require a typewriter, your public library might be the last place to find a working typewriter. Roddenbery has one in the front corner, near the nonfiction books.

It isn’t just the educational and job-related resources that make a public library a necessity in our world. It is also the library’s role as official and unofficial social services referral agency. People who don’t know where to go to get the help they need can come to any library, and a librarian can help them find the appropriate agencies or social services. Whether it is a battered women’s shelter, an agency to help the elderly, or housing services, if the librarian doesn’t already know the right phone number or the right contact person, she or he will find out and put that person in touch with the right service.

Consider in our own library, the Roddenbery Memorial Library, how Cathy Rieger, one of the many fine, helpful, cheerful librarians there, won an award and public recognition for her role in developing the CARE Center for cancer awareness resources. The Executive Director of the American Cancer Society’s Atlanta office presented the award to Cathy. There is probably no way to count how many people’s lives Cathy and the library touched with this service. If nurses are the angels of mercy, then librarians are the angels of our minds and sometimes, as in the cancer referral service, our bodies.

And let us not dismiss the role the local library plays in sparking the imagination and curiosity of children with the children’s library, the summer reading programs, the story hour, and the countless services a library offers for children. Not only do some library programs offer recreational programs for children, but they help our young people develop the reading skills that will serve them well all of their lives.

And speaking of reading skills, most if not all public libraries are involved in some form of literacy training for those who cannot read, or who read poorly. Libraries that do not directly offer this service offer referrals or cooperative programs to help the illiterate learn to read. And no one can seriously question that reading is a necessity in our culture.

As a kind of first cousin to literary training, many libraries offer, through their own services or by referral, help to those learning English as a second language. Nor should we discount the valuable role libraries serve in preserving our history. In many towns and cities, libraries have archives of the local newspapers. While major newspapers like the New York Times will be archived and put online for historical research, smaller papers, such as our own Cairo Messenger, might not be kept anywhere else except at the local library and in the newspaper office itself. Public access might be better served by the archives in libraries as some newspaper archives are not opened to the public.

Libraries archive not only newspapers, but letters, diaries and other original historical documents are often donated and kept in libraries for safe-keeping and for study and use by historians. Thus, preservation of our history is another service libraries contribute that often goes unnoticed by those in a hurry to shut the libraries doors with the mistaken notion a library is a luxury that can be denied funding when money is short.

In addition to the educational, employment, social referral services, historical preservation, and children’s programs libraries offer, most libraries also offer free or low cost meeting rooms. The Roddenbery Library is particularly blessed with both an auditorium and an adjacent small building which offers space for groups to hold meetings and present programs.

Now imagine what would happen without our Roddenbery Library: First, there would be no easy, free access to a wide variety of reading materials, and our access to facts, research, and ideas would be limited. We could very well lose much of our local history due to lack of a central archive for newspapers, letters, diaries and such original documents.

Next, there would be far less help available to the poor trying to bring themselves up by their bootstraps, because of the loss of the educational resources the library provides free of charge. Not just the poor but the unemployed would suffer a huge set-back in the number of resources available to them. School children would no longer have the delight of summer reading programs and their own room full of children’s reading materials. A battered woman, a man with cancer, an illiterate person, and someone struggling to learn English would all find it harder, if not impossible, to find the right door to open for help.

And the building itself, what would become of the well-kept, attractive Roddenbery building? How would you feel if suddenly the library closed and the weeds grew up, and you and your family and friends no longer had the resources the library offers?

Today, contact the appropriate funding agencies—the five county commissioners, the five city council members, the five board of education members, the county administrator, the city manager and mayor, and the superintendent of schools—and tell them in no uncertain terms that a library is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Keep the Roddenbery Memorial Library doors open.

Welcome to Library Advocate

2010-05-11T22:54:00.002-04:00

This blog features the contributions of library supporters in Grady County, Georgia, who use the services of Roddenbery Memorial Library. 2010 has seen a harsh economic environment close in on the library, leading to severe budget cuts. Supporters need a positive way to tell their stories of how the library has helped them and how important it is to the community. Read on for interesting cases in point for maintaining an excellent public library now and in the future.

The library is a living, changing service that in turn changes lives and lifts people beyond their expectations. Exceptional library service is part of the reward for living in Grady County and has been for over 70 years. We need to make sure that the library and information services that have become the hallmark of our community remain strong for future generations. Library advocates will be featured in this occasional paper, and people you know will make comments here and build on our advocacy effort.

As I write this introduction, the recession has finally caught up with RML. Local government is now examining budget proposals from the library that would have been unthinkably horrible just two years ago, with personnel cuts and closings. Our future is uncertain, and local government is calling for the library to stand down from its usual way of operating and make deep, severe cuts. We must have an avenue in which to advocate the continuance of high quality library service.

I cannot imagine any better way to start than with the posting of unsolicited comments from Claire Hamner Matturro, retired attorney and author of four suspense novels featuring super sleuth Lilly Rose Cleary, who divides her time between Sarasota, Florida, and Bugfest, Georgia. With people all over the nation checking her books out from libraries, Claire has a voice that should be heard.

Joe Jennette has been providing us with some thought-provoking photos, and we will try to include some of them in future posts. Enjoy Joe's excellent photos, and keep us in mind.