Dear Editor:
Many of your readers might be unaware that Missouri public libraries are $6 million short this year as Gov. Jay Nixon continues to withhold funds from the 2015 budget. The governor has recommended those same cuts be applied again in fiscal year 2016. State aid is being withheld along with funding for Internet services.
Locally, Missouri River Regional Library has not received over $53,000 in state aid, and we are paying $15,000 more for Internet service. Continued shortfalls will have a long-term cumulative effect reducing the range of services our library can provide.
Libraries throughout Missouri are hurting. Please be an advocate for libraries everywhere. Libraries are a vital resource for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. I urge you to call or write your state representatives and senators and share how important the library is to you.
I have extended an invitation to Gov. Nixon to visit Missouri River Regional Library to see first-hand the difference we are making in the lives of Cole and Osage county residents.
Author and bookstore owner, Ann Patchett, said it most eloquently with the following statement: "Know this - if you love your library, use your library. Support libraries in your words and deeds. If you are fortunate enough to be able to buy your books, and you have your own computer with which to conduct research, and you're not in search of a story hour for your children, then don't forget about the members of your community who are like you but perhaps lack your resources - the ones who love to read, who long to learn, who need a place to go and sit and think. Make sure that in your good fortune you remember to support their quest for a better life. That's what a library promises us, after all: a better life. And that's what libraries have delivered."
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