‘We Are United for Libraries’

At the ALA Membership blog, contributor Sally Gardner Reed asks, “when libraries cost so little and deliver so much,” why aren’t all politicians running on pro-library platforms?

United for Libraries

According to Reed, for more than 100 years, libraries have ensured that “all people in the community have access to the resources they need and want to be self actualized and self governing people.”

This has certainly been the case for me.

Whether it was ensuring my early access to Internet technology or pursuing information I needed, I consistently turned to the library.

Learning to weave? I went to the library. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome? Again, I went to the library.

The problem, as identified by Reed, is that community leaders simply do not understand the core roles played by libraries. “The all too prevalent belief that libraries have been obviated by the internet lends testimony to their ignorance.”

Reed emphasizes the importance of constituents making the case for libraries. “That’s where friends of the library groups, trustees, foundation members and active library patrons come in.”

Reed is executive director of United for Libraries, formerly known as the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations. She invites library supporters to make use of toolkits, webinars, practical guides and networking opportunities.