The place where people gather, work, and gain inspiration, libraries are an essential pillar of the community that is often overlooked.
Since I was a small child I have been a library kid, not only because I’ve been a bookworm since birth, but almost every weekend my mom would take me to the library as an activity to get me and my brother out of the house. When I was in middle school I would go to the library after school while my mom was working and do homework, chat with my friends or even the librarians. And don’t even get me started on summer reading challenges – I always won prizes, My favorite was always a voucher for free Ice Cream at Pepinos. The library was a huge part of my childhood and a resource my mom utilized to its full potential. Often parents, especially stay-at-home parents are left on their own. The whole concept of “it takes a village to raise a child” has been exponentially disappearing in the 21st century. However, the library serves as a place where parents can go for support.
In a conversation with Caroline Cares, the AHS librarian who formerly worked at the Basalt public library, she brought up the stigma around libraries. How in the American capitalist society, people are not used to asking for help, so naturally an intuition centered around helping people holds a stigma. The idea that you have to be in poverty or in desperate need of help to use the library is an idea rooted in prejudice.
Local libraries are one of the few places left that are non-transnational for everybody. Whether you walk in the doors with one million or one hundred dollars in your bank account, you get the same access to the same resources. The library serves as an equalizer that is rarely found in our modern digital era. If someone needs a place for a meeting or to go and work, they go to a coffee shop and have to pay, but the library is free for everyone.
Due to the nature of the library as a community resource, it has the opportunity to serve a variety of populations. Creating equity for education, every library houses a substantial collection of books for all demographics. The other resources found in libraries are surprisingly unique and helpful. Now every library differs, but between the three libraries in the Roaring Fork Valley(Garfield County, Basalt, and Pitkin County) the resources are immense. Some include clothing repair, free lawyers, seed libraries, resume writing help, Wifi hotspots, State Park passes, private meeting rooms, and even food banks.
Say someone just got a cancer diagnosis and is overwhelmed and confused, they could go to the library to get help to learn more about their diagnosis. Libraries not only have physical resources but also offer full assistance for all life events, good or bad. Or if you have a question, chances are someone at the library can answer it or direct you to someone who can.
Getting a library card is exceptionally easy to do. Everybody can find a place at the library, and I encourage you to find yours.
Pitkin County Library
Basalt Regional Library
Garfield County Library (Carbondale)
