| In My Opinion – Peg Becksvoort |
Editor’s note: Resident Peg Becksvoort submitted this letter to be read at the February 6, 2023, Select Board meeting. She asked that NGX share her letter.
To the Select Board and Town Manager Kerbin,
Thank you for reading my letter of support for the budget proposals made by our professional librarian, Jay Campbell. I regret that I am unable to attend this evening’s meeting and must rely upon the reader of my letter to put active meaning into my printed words. Whether you are fans of libraries or not, a strong community grows even stronger with a strong library run by professionals.
As I know you are aware, the tasks in a library are many and vary widely. What the public sees is merely the tip of the organization and function of any library. The public may see a nice person who checks out books and puts them on the shelves. However, there is much more to the picture.
In a library run by professionals such as Jay and Emily, you will find: programming, scheduling, book ordering, information sharing and gathering, technology assistance, and community outreach. Not a job for a group of volunteers.
Who benefits from having a well-run library? The entire community!
Children and their caregivers who come for story hours benefit. It is a well-known fact that children who are read aloud to will develop a wider vocabulary than their peers who do not experience a wide variety of written and spoken words. Doing a quick search of “the benefits of reading aloud to children” yields many citations. The article at this link is merely the first of many hundreds of supportive articles.
Seniors benefit from a carefully curated and developed collection that grows and changes as needs arise. Older adults find social events, companionship, intellectual stimulation, and technology help at the library. Yet another quick search using the terms “cost benefits of a public library” yields a cornucopia of articles from a wide variety of resources. Here’s just one example: “How Public Libraries Help Build Healthy Communities”.
Students benefit from the public library. In this age of computers many folks have a stubborn yet incorrect belief that the internet has replaced the library. I will remind you that until you truly know a subject, merely “googling” for an answer or for information will not always give you the best answers. Librarians are professionals whose training involves knowing how to find the correct or best answers to a problem or question. Without them, knowledge seekers often tend to choose the first answer to a query. The examples are numerous: this one is from my time as a middle school librarian – several sixth grade students searching for info on Homer (Greek author of The Odyssey) ended up researching either Homer Simpson or Winslow Homer because they didn’t know which one they needed and took the wrong path. A professional librarian prevents such mistakes. As is often said: Google will bring you millions of results, a professional librarian will bring you the correct results.
YOU! Yes, the Select Board and the Town Manager benefit from having a well-run library! You don’t have to rely upon volunteers whose knowledge of libraries would be as varied as the number of volunteers you have; you have professionals ready to assist in locating information for you – they can access databases and resources that are hard to find and bring specific articles to you to build in-depth answers to local issues.
Libraries aren’t only about finding a good book. Libraries run by professionals are about meeting the needs of the wide variety of community members. There are over 6000 folks in New Gloucester; clearly we have an excellent library staff; it behooves our town to actively support the professional staff that we have with salaries commensurate with their talents and education. I strongly support making the town’s wage scale public and equitable. Our town should strive for Professional salaries given, in return for the blessing of having a professional staff.
Thank you,
Peg Becksvoort
(retired professional librarian, 43 years experience)
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this opinion piece are solely those of the author. Publication does not reflect endorsement by the NGXchange or its volunteers. NGX welcomes diverse viewpoints and invites your submissions. Learn more here.
