By Midge Kirk
Mancos Public Library
Libraries are used by the public every day and have more resources available to fit everyones needs and are a place that you can always rely on to get the answers you seek! Libraries are true public connections to the past, present, and future of education, ideas, creations, inventions and knowledge.
Libraries offer services and products that level the intellectual playing field. They allow people of any income level or background to access high-quality information, to use computers, or to borrow what they want. The existence of libraries ensures that knowledge and technology are available to everyone, not just to those who can afford their own. This is more than charity work; this helps raise the education levels of society as a whole.
Libraries have been around for 5,000 years. If they were not essential institutions, they would have died out long ago. (The first ones appeared in whats known as the Fertile Crescent or cradle of civilization in Southwest Asia, according to The Library: An Illustrated History by Stuart A. P. Murray.)
Studies have shown that the presence of libraries is good for towns and cities; people find more value in areas that have libraries nearby. They have rated libraries higher than other public services in professionally conducted polls.
Libraries are portals to all of the worlds knowledge. Librarians make sure that knowledge continues to be recorded and saved for the future, even as information-storage devices and formats change.
Libraries are more than just a building of books for people; they are an essential public tool of services and link to knowledge, research and connections!
Libraries change lives and fuel the power of knowledge. Think about it. Have you visited your library lately?
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Annual Wreath Making Workshop, with Mary Vozar at Mancos Public Library on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. Bring gloves, clippers and any other seasonal trinkets you may have on hand. Greens and some items for decoration will be provided. This is always a wonderful evening, so sign up now. RSVP is requested.