Doing the Right Thing - Bay County Library System

Doing the right thing is not necessarily the easy thing to do, nor is it necessarily the most popular either (but not in this case). This is the first of a hopefully long series of blog entries of those I believe are doing the right thing.

First up - Bay County Michigan library system.

In yesterday's elections, a millage to operate the county library system went to the voters for the third time in the last year. A rejection of this millage caused the system to make massive cuts at the first of the year (including the closure of a historic library near the Midland Street district). Yesterday, citizens voted on a 1-mill 3 year tax. The final vote count was "13,375" yes votes and "12,636" no votes according to an article in today's Bay City Times. Talking about the popular thing, this is only a 739 vote margin.

What'll happen now, according to the "Times"

1. The Auburn and Pinconning branch libraries will be open 5 days a week, up from the current 2 days, and will be open 3 nights a week.
   
2. The Sage Branch will reopen 5 days and 2 nights a week.
   
3. Wirt Library will be open an extra day, 6 days, and will be open 2 nights a week.
   
4. The Bookmobile returns to the road 2 days a week. Also,
   
5. 63% to 67% of laid off employees will return to work.
   
6. The restoration or increase of funding for library resources from books to digital resources.
   

The moral of the story...

A strong library system is absolutely vital to learning. Learning is one of two keys to personal growth. Any community that refuses to support their library system will within years will be a dead community. The citizens that want such services will leave a town and go elsewhere (gee, just like others in Michigan). 739 brave people stood up yesterday and decided that they wanted to keep their community strong. Kudos to the citizens of Bay County and their library system.