BPL is a community hub that has been an influential part of my life since I was a child. I came from a home constantly in turmoil with little money for extras. The library was a place where I could explore and learn new things, not just through reading but through books on tape (yes, I am old)! When I became a parent I shared the gift of books, movies, and music with my kids, and started using the audio book offering to fit 'reading' into my busy schedule. The committees I worked on as an involved citizen often met in the library. Now that my kids have grown and flown, I live in a condo building and we are so fortunate to have the Book Mobile come right to our door with our requests! In recent months, I have dropped styrofoam for recycling at our library, used free notary services, attended a community postcard writing GOTV campaign, and added to my growing collection of books for short money at the Friends of the BPL book sale. Our library and its dedicated staff are a precious gem!

The Beverly Farms branch library is central to our community as a much-beloved place to gain knowledge, access excellent literature, music, and films; plus attend informative lectures, meetings, and more.

The NOBLE library system has been a great asset while raising my daughter. We have a weekly rotation of books, get discounted museum tickets, and participate in Library programs within the system to make friends and enrich our lives. My daughter is going into Kindergarten this fall and can already read. I hope that the defunding of Libraries by the executive order is reversed as Congress controls federal funding, not one single person.

I don't think there's a way to calculate the massive impact that libraries have had on my development as a human. The ideas, beauty, tragedy, hilarity, and more that I've encountered through books I've read via the library, have made a direct impact on my capacity for critical thinking, and most importantly, empathy. But that's the obvious part. It's easy to forget just how critical libraries are for building community in real, necessary ways. As a parent, I can't tell you how many winter mornings I've spent needing to do something outside the house with my kids, but not having the resources for a paid activity. "Let's hit the library" is almost a refrain in our house as a result. It's a warm (literally), accessible, comforting place. When people say "it takes a village," it's hard to not think of the library as the literal meeting place of that village. And also! I grow vegetables in my garden from seeds that I get from the library. Libraries quite literally feed their communities.