Pat Hickman: Library a modern marvel; Yes on S keeps it going
Are you noticing the “Yes on S” signs all around the county? We certainly hope so! Our county libraries operate on an eighth-cent sales tax. This small tax provides 89 percent of our public libraries’ budget. We have been paying this designated tax – which can only be used for the libraries – since 1995. We need to renew it this election and a two-thirds vote is needed.
If you haven’t been to a library recently, you might think they’re obsolete – not so! Our libraries have joined the digital age. While the library continues to provide the services it always has, a free library card will also connect you to the world. You can electronically check out books, take a computer class, get free access to a computer (about 30 percent of our county’s population cannot afford a computer), read newspapers, hunt for jobs, do homework, etc.
As Isaac Asimov once said: “When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.”
Vote yes on Measure S in November, support your library!
Pat Hickman, Turlock
This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Pat Hickman: Library a modern marvel; Yes on S keeps it going."