Public Library branches deserve our protection

Egad. My beloved Ottawa Public Library has been under attack. It feels like someone just punched a nun in broad daylight. This will not do.

Threats and other violent disruptions have no place in society. We denounce them when they target business owners, politicians, lawyers or journalists. Well, librarians deserve the same protection so here I am to say, firmly: Nope. Not in my town. Not anywhere.

People in certain occupations, by necessity or by choice, live with the possibility of violence. That's why the prime minister and other heads of government around the world live with the constant presence of burly fellows who can't smile and keep watch at the same time. Rock stars, movie stars, members of the Royal Family — they have all personal security details. It's expected even if for some of them it might be more for show than anything else.

But librarians?

The incident that closed down all 33 branches last Monday at first appeared mysterious. Neither the OPL nor the Ottawa Police released details. Then on Friday the Ontario Provincial Police announced charges against a Peterborough man for emailing bomb threats to various cities including Ottawa. Fortunately, library branches were allowed to reopen on Tuesday without anyone getting hurt. But that doesn't mean we didn't suffer.

For people who had been hoping to get their flu shot at the Public Health clinic out of the Orléans branch that day, the disruption was serious. And for those who couldn't use the library's services during the closure, people who in many cases have few other options to access the internet or apply for a job or borrow a book they needed for an important purpose and who couldn't casually go to Indigo and purchase it instead, the consequences were even more significant.

Threatening the library means disproportionally hitting the most vulnerable among us. Yes, of course you're welcome there if you're wealthy or middle-income. The library is for everyone equally, no exception. That's precisely why it's so beneficial to the less privileged.

Here is all the good the Ottawa Public Library does in a year. Numbers are from the 2019 annual report:

■One item borrowed or renewed every 2.5 seconds;

■ 592,000 inquiries — everything from reading recommendations to branch hours;

■ 238,000 one-on-one tutorials, helping customers learn something new;

■ 306,000 community-building conversations;

■ 4.18 million in-person visits;

■ 1.85 million items in the collection;

■ 14,717 programs offered to 296,386 attendees;

■ 12.5 million website visits;

■ 2.66 million downloads and streams;

■ 12.4 million items borrowed;

■ 681,629 public workstation sessions.

There's plenty more, including the possibility to borrow musical instruments, get job-seeking help, or have any book delivered to the branch closest to you using a mobile app. All this and plenty more at a total cost to taxpayers of less than $55 million a year. That's roughly half of what we're spending to fix three lousy kilometres of Strandherd Drive. My regular reader knows how much I love to hate this particular expenditure, but it's useful to make the case that we do indeed have plenty of tax dollars at our disposal. It's just that OPL is a much better bang for the public buck.

Plus libraries are staffed with the most wonderful souls, who can help a kid struggling with homework, find just the right dinosaur story your toddler loves and offer reading suggestions to make a lonely senior smile, all in one fell swoop.

I am a huge supporter, and user, of public libraries because I believe the best way to have a more equitable and inclusive society is to share knowledge freely. Public libraries are one of our most powerful social-justice tools. They are powerful precisely because they are open and welcoming.

It wouldn't be the same if they had metal detectors or security guards.

They're not asking for anything, but we owe libraries our support, gratitude, and — when necessary — protection so they can continue their crucial work of sharing knowledge, information and, ultimately, power.

Don't mess with my OPL.