Thoughts on Ridgewood Library Funding

As a lifetime lover of libraries I read with piqued interest in The Ridgewood Patch the recap of last nights Village Council meeting. This is an excerpt pertaining to the Ridgewood Public Library:

"Friends and trustees of the Ridgewood Public Library also took the floor to again express public support for the institution and the council said it was willing to give $35,000 of Director Nancy Greene's request of just over $75,000, which she has said if not granted will lead to closures over the summer."

It made me wonder why an institution which is transformational as well as informational is always having to go hat in hand to these meetings and seemingly never receives the full amount they ask for to keep the doors open.

Libraries not only provide information but they provide a space where people can dream and aspire to better themselves and the community around them. It is my fervent hope that the Village might see that given the chance to transform their residents they might make better citizens, and then possibly be capable of paying more taxes.

The problem here just might be that the voting public is not seeing the connection between how they perceive the library and the support they give the library. If they saw it as an incubator of new ideas and new ways of doing things, which could result in higher tax receipts, then they might not be so reluctant to fully fund the operations of the library. It's not as if there is a scandalous amount of waste going on or that Librarians are grossly overpaid.  This has never been the issue, yet the underfunding continues and it makes me wonder what people are thinking.