Things you may not know...

...about your Public Library.
1. Libraries are not free. Yes it may be free for you to use it but there is a financial cost to having a local public library. This cost is usually a property tax millage that goes to the library directly or to the city/county if it is not a District Library. Local support of libraries becomes more important as State and Federal Aid continue to be cut.
2. Just because a library has the beginning, the middle or the end of a series does not guarantee that they have the whole series. Sometimes it's a matter of starting the series late and not being able to buy the beginning. Other times it's a matter of no one was reading the series so the library quit buying them. But often it is a matter of books being damaged, lost or not returned. Be thankful if you library allows you to inter loan titles from other libraries.
3. While a library may offer online resources 24/7 it cannot physically stay open 24/7 unless it has a huge benefactor who gives millions of dollars to the library every year. Most libraries budget for a certain number of hours and then break those hours up to offer different times on different days. This may mean that your library opens early on some days and closes early or they may open late on days that they have evening hours. Learn your libraries hours and hope that they don't keep changing them.
4. Programs are a free entertainment and informational resource provided by the library. Yet just as a book that never gets checked out, no matter how good it is, a program that is not well attended gets deleted. Our library offers story time programs for toddler/preschoolers, after school programs for students, computer classes for all ages and a variety of specialty programs including virtual vacations, meet the author programs and special performers. Your library is a great place to broaden your horizons.
5. Your public library is not staffed, designed nor licensed to be a daycare facility. Many parents believe that the public library is a "safe place" for their kids to hang out (sometimes all day) so they think nothing about letting their 6, 7, 8,...year old kid go to the library by themselves. What everyone needs to realize is that a library is no safer than any other public facility. Yes, there are staff at the library but they aren't babysitters or daycare providers. A library is not like a public school where teachers have the responsibility of the students. A library is only as safe as the people that are in it and since a public library is open to all there are times where it may be a very unsafe environment and we don't even know it.

Those are some of my top thought on things you may not know about public libraries. Use them, support them, and supervise your children while in them! Thank You.