Feb 25, 2017 3 min read

That East Washington was able to find $3,000 to pitch in for the operation of Citizens Library is one of those rare events that is encouraging and disturbing at the same time.

You’ll recall earlier this month East Washington Borough Council voted to not earmark any money in its 2017 budget for Citizens Library, breaking a reliable tradition and losing a seat on the library’s board. Despite considerable negative feedback from residents, the borough pleaded poverty, saying that they faced pressing infrastructure needs and a borough building with no hot water and a mold infestation.

Then, they opted to rattle the tin cup and collect $3,000 from borough residents who could spare the change. East Washington made its contribution and kept its seat on the board.

According to East Washington Mayor Michael Gomber, “Everything worked out perfectly. I’m elated. We originally couldn’t help the library, so we took it upon ourselves to talk to members of the community to donate money.”

Contributing $3,000 to the library by any means is preferable to contributing nothing at all. The library – and the community as a whole – is $3,000 stronger as a result of that money being put forth, even if the loss would not have been fatal to the library, since it also receives funding from other entities.

But it’s disturbing the borough was not willing to allocate the money within its budget and instead seemed to view it as an act of charity.

Including a contribution within its budget would have demonstrated borough leaders believe the library is a crucial asset to all of its residents and not just a “nice” frill. As other communities have reduced their contributions to Citizens Library, or, in the case of Trinity Area School District, eliminated a contribution entirely, it sends a troubling message – a library is not something that is critical to the intellectual and cultural life of a community. It’s something for its regular users, or the well-heeled, to support.

It must, to use a phrase from Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” depend on the kindness of strangers.

As librarians everywhere have been at pains to emphasize, libraries are not becoming obsolete even as information – whether reliable or not – is a mouse click away. The card catalogs are mostly gone, as are the encyclopedias, but libraries have joined the 21st century in allowing patrons access to computers, ebooks, games and other forms of electronic media. But some things about libraries remain refreshingly unchanged – children can attend storytime sessions, and books can be checked out. They were, and still are, important community gathering spots.

There has been renewed talk recently National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities are being eyed for elimination by Capitol Hill budget cutters. Libraries elsewhere have been grappling with budget reductions. Public support for the arts and the life of the mind in the United States feels more and more vulnerable.

But if we say we value education, things like libraries and cultural institutions deserve our wholehearted support – and that includes our tax dollars.