An investment worth making

Walter Cronkite, famously called the “most trusted man in America,” once said, “Whatever the cost is for our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”

The Spokane County Library District needs us to vote yes on the levy lid lift request that will allow our libraries to sustain current hours, staff, and programming.

As a mom, writer, and a one-time public services specialist for the district, I have seen firsthand the powerful ways libraries transform our communities. When our local libraries thrive, we do, too. In 2018 alone, Spokane County library customers checked out more than 2.5 million items, including books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks and more. More than 1.3 million people visited our libraries throughout the year. In-library programs—including play-and-learn storytimes, teen after school activities, gardening, dance, and budgeting classes for adults—were attended by almost 90,000 people.

My own children adore the libraries, and when we cart home shopping bags filled with books, we feel rich, and really, with all of those words and stories and ideas, we are.

Walter Cronkite is right: Libraries are an investment worth making. Please vote Yes for Spokane County Libraries.

Sharma Shields

Spokane