The county budget and library funding

To the Editor:

The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors will be discussing financial priorities shortly, both for the remainder of this fiscal year, and for 2021/22.

The Friends of the Library are urging the county to make “fixing” the library budget a priority. We all know how important libraries are and what they mean to our communities:

• To quote a senior member of local law enforcement, “kids who spend time in libraries don't spend time with us.”

• Libraries and the services they provide (such as computers and internet) are critical for our citizens who don't have access at home.

• We lost 50% of the library staff in the last round of budget cuts, and are operating on less than a shoestring. The Main and Groveland libraries are running on skeleton staffs, there is no staff for the Tuolumne branch and the fate of the Twain Harte branch is still unresolved.

• The Bookmobile is currently mothballed. That means people in the Don Pedro area, Jamestown and the 108 corridor have no access. In Don Pedro, the bookmobile has also served as the school library.

It's also worth noting that the Friends organizations, which endow the libraries with both financial and volunteer support, were key drivers of Measure U's success back in November.

We are asking the board to acknowledge the importance of libraries and literacy in the county. We are also asking those of you in the community who support the library system to make your feelings known to your elected representatives as soon as possible. Library funding needs to be restored to its previous levels, at a minimum.

Malcolm Carden President, Friends of the Tuolumne County Library

Sonora