Speaking Up for Libraries

This one in particular.

Two responses to the August 12 Hudson Star-Observer article, "Library board rejects report".

I don't need any reports at all. The Hudson library is and always has been inadequate. It's not an inviting, comfortable place to be. It's difficult to talk to librarians, no room for lines, no privacy. The best thing to happen to us as library users was the online catalog. Most of the books/materials we check out come from outside libraries. A community like Hudson should not rely on other, mostly smaller communities to supply our citizens with the materials they want/need. I don't have kids in the schools but that's where a big chunk of my tax dollar goes- as it should be, these kids are our future. The library is a place where I should be able to see and enjoy my tax dollars at work. It should be a place for young and old alike to relax, read, listen to music, use and expand your imagination. Hard as the staff tries, this library falls far short. I'm not buying it that the mayor isn't against a newer/better library. I think the way the referendum was set up it was meant to fail. Having great services costs money. A great library is an incredible value for it's citizens. Really, the best bargain around.

This 2nd response doesn't have the ringingly direct message of the first one. The writer is certainly "speaking up", but it's unclear to me how urgent it is to make improvements in an allegedly substandard library. He certainly takes Hudson's mayor to task.

This is not the first time a report by any group, anywhere, has not found the Hudson Library to be seriously lacking in all areas of comparison. I would definitely question the motivations of a mayor who takes time out of his busy schedule to prepare and deliver a powerpoint presentation to the city council that basically attacks a city department. As for the town chairs, what they know and understand about the library wouldn't fill a thimble. It's nice to know that the town chairs are willing to keep enabling Hudson to pull money from the library budget for rent and to process payroll--I guess they don't mind throwing their tax dollars into the city's pot. As a taxpayer, I DO mind, however. St. Joe needs to opt out of the joint library agreement. It's moronic to keep paying for a facility that a majority of St. Joe residents do not even use because it is so substandard. As for the mayor, he doesn't hate all libraries--just this one. If that were not the case, he wouldn't put so much energy into trashing a report that would have never received this much attention from anyone and would have died a quiet death as the countless reports of library inadequacy have died over the years. Here's an idea for the HSO: why don't you do your own comparison? Why should anyone believe the mayor's data without comparing it to anything else? Chicken?