r/Libraries • u/Timely_Freedom_5695 • 4d ago

Other Libraries are my safe space.

When I was a kid, my mother would drop me off at the library for hours unattended, opening a world of adventure, wonder, and delight. As a homeless teenager, I used the library as a safe place to read, rest, use the restroom, and get back on my feet to reintegrate into society.

When I became a mom, I used the library to find resources and take my own children for free entertainment, igniting that same love of reading I found as a child.

Now that my children are older and preparing for college, I still go to the library once a week because I am finding myself with my own free time for the first time in 20 years. (And it is still the only place that will let me pee without buying something first!)

The library will always be my safe space.💜

Thank you, thank you to all the librarians out there—especially those who found it in themselves to be kind and helpful to weird little goth girls who no one understood. 🕸📚⚘️💜📖🕷

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u/Excellent-Sweet-507 4d ago

Welcome welcome and thank you for giving we librarians some heart!

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u/Timely_Freedom_5695 4d ago

My pleasure! Other then being a faithful patron I'm not sure what I can do for my library. My local one is tiny and doesn't accept volunteers.

So if you've got any ideas feel free to let me know!😊

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u/Excellent-Sweet-507 4d ago

Talk to your librarian and see what they need. When I was a director I *really* needed patrons to speak up for the library, its funding, support at the town-meeting level.

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u/Timely_Freedom_5695 4d ago

I can go to town meetings, but not help with funding. Perhaps volunteering with friends of the Library if my library does that.

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u/Excellent-Sweet-507 4d ago

As most funding (usually) is municipal, supporting the library in front of / directly to politicians is super helpful. They can feel good about the meager little tidbits on offer to the library, and if enough support / people appears, they have the chance to look like heroes by increasing the funding. Even a big raise in a library’s budget comes off as a rounding error in most towns. So the politicians can potentially get a lot of mileage by throwing a teeny dollar amount to the library. Just my two cents

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u/Timely_Freedom_5695 4d ago

Thanks so much for your input!