Make no mistake, community: The new library is for you

Public libraries are about stories -- the stories housed within the pages of the library books and the stories library patrons house within their memories. Every patron who comes into the Bozeman Public Library has a story about how their library has influenced them.

I was a public library supporter before I learned to read. I was one of those lucky children whose mother brought them to the library every week. The public librarian taught me to use the card catalog and then required that I look in the card catalog first before I asked for her expertise. I thought I was the only 10-year-old who understood the secret magic of the card catalog. Today, this exposure to libraries shows. I shelve books at the Bozeman Public Library and am the assistant librarian at the Big Sky Community Library. This fall I start on my master's degree and will pursue a career as a Montana Public Library director.

Every day patrons entrust librarians to help shape their library stories. We introduce a child to "Charlotte's Web," help a patron set up a book club, edit a wedding invitation, provide Internet and computer classes, and invite a patron's newest grandchild to "Books and Babies."

When reading the Chronicle one might think that to be a new library supporter you must take sides. That is not true. The Chronicle has been more than adequate about providing the Bozeman community with endless statistics measuring cost, square footage, circulation figures and budget cuts, and coming up with conflict-filled headlines. All this does not add up to what the new Bozeman Public Library is really for.

The new library is for you, Bozeman Community. You know that. The Bozeman library staff knows that. Write the Chronicle and share your library story with the community.