When discussing our love for the Library, we often focus on the wonderful books we find on the shelves. However, the Library, while quiet and unassuming, has been a place for refuge, change, freedom, and rebellious research. Vivian Rogers, Executive Director of the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, explains the Library as this kind of space. A space where the books on the shelves serve as public protection, teaching people about their rights, and providing access to freedom.
"Libraries offer me a refuge from obligations, from daily responsibilities and busy activities. When I walk into a library, I enjoy sitting and watching others. But for many of my friends and neighbors, a library is not just a refuge, it’s also a place that offers freedom.
The friends I went to school with in the 80’s tell me that our college library offered them a nearly private space to nervously and secretly research their sexual identity among the 306 Dewey Decimal books. The books they found gave them the confidence to stand up for their rights and create a better world for many teens today.
In Texas, I saw women with young children find resources to escape violence by attending publicly innocent and proper, although quietly rebellious, library programs.
And, today, I hear about families who feel safe enough to enter our libraries with the community at large, and step into one of the program meetings rooms, for just a moment, to ask just one quick question of a visiting attorney. The library also offers them a route to gain legal status and freedom.
I enjoy the dozens of books I find each year in my library, but I love that my library offers a path towards freedom as well."
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