Supporting the importance of backing expanded library
Richard Fulton
Mary Sanchez, a columnist for the Kansas City Star, recently wrote a column entitled “Libraries Are Now As Vital as Ever.”
Here’s part of what she said:
“Public libraries are bustling with activity and connectivity. (They are) akin to public education. They are equalizers offering a world of literature and knowledge to anyone who wants to partake.”
A discussion of literacy and the effects on young people through the importance of libraries by Ann O’Leary and Pattie Miller, directors of a non-profit literacy-promoting organization, provided me with some interesting insights.
They reiterate a study conducted at the University of Kansas by researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley that found that many children with connections to reading, talking, and even singing at home have heard nearly 30 million more words by age 40 than children of more aware parents.
This they call the “word gap.”
Bear with me, I want to make this point as forcefully as I can.
A Harvard study found that the brain is rapidly growing during these early years (up to 5), with nearly 700 new neural connections formed every second.
Therefore, children who hear, see, and learn fewer words in their first five years of life are often less prepared to succeed in school and beyond. (americanliteracynews.com)
As the exposure to reading and other awareness measures remain low through the older years of childhood and into the teenage years, the problems with success in school and life compound.
Which brings me back to public libraries.
Maryville is blessed with a very good public library and a dedicated librarian, Stephanie Patterson.
It is financed basically by property taxes on Maryville citizens (nothing from sales taxes as some imagine). Donations, grants, and some state monies help enrich its programs.
As much as it tries to service the rest of the county, its resources are limited. This is why there is a proposal on the ballot at the April 7 elections for citizens of rural Nodaway County to approve the establishment of a County Library.
This library would be melded into the Maryville library to create a joint public library with significantly improved resources.
The vote would create a county library with financing from a 15-cent-per-$100 assessment on property taxes.
The plan, then, is to combine the two entities into a singular County Public Library run by a board from both the county residents and Maryville residents.
The new entity would have increased resources which, because the Maryville library already provides the building and continuing resources, would allow the great majority of the added resources to go towards servicing the rest of the county.
Projected would be library cards for all K-12 students enrolled in county schools, a mobile library resource to take the library to communities and schools in the county, more hands-on support by added librarians, and increased e-books, hardback books, and other resources.
What a boon to supplement county school libraries.
Teenagers are increasingly utilizing the library for access to “teen” literature. Families can use the programs for young children to hook them on reading. Resources available to adults would increase dramatically.
In short, this proposition is a win for everyone, but especially for those in their early learning years. Reading is the number one predictor of success in school and in life, remember. And public libraries continue to be a major source of this and other developmental resources.
So, if you live in the far corners of Nodaway County or right next to Maryville (Maryville residents don’t vote for this since they already have a library), please consider seriously voting for the County Library.
It’s a small cost for major benefits to our children, our young people, our local schools, and to families all over the county.
