Support our libraries

Growing up in a working-class family of seven, we spent a lot of time at the Central Arkansas Library System’s southwest Little Rock branch. Little did I know then the financial and logistical struggles that parents go through in getting their kids to read. Knowing what I know now as a practicing librarian, there is no way my parents would have been able to maintain our reading interests without the resources available from CALS. Without the opportunities afforded to us by our local library, I am certain that none of us would have become the lifelong learners that we all are today. I’ve seen families just like mine walk into my library each and every day over the last 14 years.

I am excited to see that Nate Coulter and the CALS Board of Directors are working to ensure those opportunities are available to the next generation of Arkansawyers. The modest millage increase they are asking for will go a long way to addressing the short-term and long-term needs of folks in central Arkansas. The average homeowner will see their bill go up by about $14 a year, but what they will receive in return is far more than $14 will get you anywhere else.

There is always something to do at the library, including nothing at all. We are one of the last places where a person can simply exist without expectation of having to pay for something or, frankly, do anything. The notion of libraries as the “third place”—a communal space outside of work and home— is one that we have worked hard to cultivate and even harder to maintain. Creating and maintaining welcoming and functional spaces isn’t cheap, nor is providing well-stocked, curated library collections and providing programs to entertain, educate, and delight.

As Rex Nelson recently quipped, ignorance is expensive. We cannot afford ignorance in Arkansas anymore. Please vote yes on Nov. 9.

ADAM WEBB

Hot Springs Adam Webb is president of Advocates for All Arkansas Libraries.