Save the Carrboro Branch Library!

~The Orange County manager has recommended that Carrboro Branch Library, where I interned last year, be closed in the annual budget to be passed in June. For the past few weeks, I've been working with the Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library to see that this closure does not happen. Our chief target is the six-member Orange County Board of Commissioners.

You might think that this library closure is for financial reasons related to the current economic climate, but you'd only be partially right. The truth is more complex, and frankly, a bit sinister. It seems that a brand-new library has just been completed in the town of Hillsborough (the county seat), but the Board of Commissioners neglected to allocate sufficient funds to actually staff it properly. As a result, the county manager wants to close two outlying county-operated libraries (Carrboro Branch and Cedar Grove libraries) and re-assign their permanent staff to the Hillsborough library.

I find this decision to be unacceptable. As a Carrboro resident, I am forced to pay property taxes and fees to Orange County, in exchange for which I am entitled to certain services, library access being one of them. But with the closure of outlying library branches, I am effectively being deprived of such service -- service that I and other Carrboro residents have paid for. Hillsborough is nearly a half-hour away by car, and in addition there is no public transportation from my area to there. This recommendation to close my local library and move staff to the more distant library amounts to a theft of taxpayer resources from an outlying area.

It gets weirder. The proposal to build the new library was rammed through the Board of Commissioners last year in just a few days, without public input or any sort of library advisory recommendations. As a result, not only do we have this financial mess, we have what seems to be a poorly-designed library, with two stories and a workroom in the middle of the first floor, which apparently means that more staff than usual will be required to adequately keep it running. Obviously, no librarian was consulted on how a library ought to be designed. I'm very disappointed at how this worked out, and I think it's unfair that other areas of the county pay the price for an administrative bungle.

The closest other library to me (aside from the small, computer-oriented Cybrary) is the Chapel Hill Public Library, which is a municipal facility operated not by Orange County (although it receives county funds), but by the town of Chapel Hill. Right now, I can get a library card from them at no cost, but they have threatened to start charging non-Chapel Hill residents if use increases much (as it certainly would if Carrboro Branch were closed), to the tune of $100-$200 per year. This is an unfair burden to place on poorer citizens who use the library, especially people who have already paid county taxes.

^The Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library and I have attended three Commissioners' meetings so far, and we've spoken out during the "public comments" section of each meeting. I've also whipped up some signs that we can hold while we glare at the commissioners:

^"Don't STEAL from Carrboro taxpayers! Keep Carrboro Branch open!"

^ "We ♥ and USE our library! Don't close Carrboro Branch!"

Money is tight, of course, but I hope the Board doesn't overcorrect their management error by shutting down a well-used library. In hard times, libraries are more important than ever. While I was working there, quite a few people came in to use the computers and other library resources in their job-seeking efforts. I vividly recall helping out several seniors who had been forced to re-enter the job market due to a loss of their post-retirement income. These people had barely (or never) used a computer, but they were soon logging on to their own email accounts and making resumes with word-processing software. The library also has many immigrant users who use library resources to help them learn English or acquire materials in their native languages. And of course, the library is a great asset to McDougle Middle and Elementary schools, with which it shares space.

All of these factors and more demonstrate how important a library is for the community during a recession. It's comparatively inexpensive (the entire library system consumes a mere 1% of Orange County's budget), and is an economic and educational engine that studies have shown returns more to the community than it costs.

In addition to attending and speaking at the commissioners' meetings, I've also emailed all of the commissioners and set up a Facebook petition. If you live in Orange County and care at all about the library and/or proper allocation of your tax dollars, please take a moment to email the commissioners expressing your support for the library, and also sign the online petition. If you're feeling really ambitious, the next commissioners' meeting is on Tuesday, May 26th.

A World of Music

~Some of my happiest memories of elementary school are of my time in music class, at a time when I (and everyone else my age) was too young to be embarrassed about singing in public. Starting in 5th grade, I started playing the trumpet, mainly because I didn't have a real instrumental preference, and my Dad had played the trumpet, so I figured...why not try it? So off my parents went to Burt's Music to rent me a trumpet.

I enjoyed playing the trumpet, despite the irritation of having to haul it around all the time. The high point of my musical career was probably 7th grade, when I played music almost every day in Dr. Gardner's band class. That was a lot of fun -- I had friends who were also in band class, and we went to play in concerts and perform at school.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse the next year, when I was once again in Dr. Gardner's class. I got braces welded to my teeth, which I quickly discovered had a detrimental effect on my ability to play the trumpet. Aside from the irritation of metal digging painfully into my mouth whenever I pressed my lips against the trumpet mouthpiece, I found that I could no longer hit the high notes as easily as before, and some of the highest notes were out of my range entirely. I was "demoted" down the row of trumpet players, relegated to playing accompaniments rather than solos. After-school practice became difficult, and was no longer fun.

Of course, even if I hadn't had braces, I still would have likely stopped playing, as I had very little interest in being part of a high school marching band after 8th grade. Playing in class was fun, and going to concerts was fun, too, but I had no desire to play at school football games and pep rallies. So the trumpet was returned to the rental shop, and, occupied by other concerns, I mostly forgot about playing music...until recently.

One Christmas, my siblings and I received a Yamaha PSR-77 keyboard, which was mostly used by my younger sister during a time when she practiced playing the piano. After that, it lay mostly unused in a closet. Recently, on a whim, I decided to re-learn how to read music, and took the keyboard with me to my apartment. Then I went to the excellent music library at UNC and checked out two books on how to play keyboards, and another book on the fundamentals of music.

I've learned to play a few very easy pieces, and can once again read and recognize musical notes. In addition, I find playing music -- without any stress, grades, deadlines, etc. -- to be great stress relief. When you're playing a song, your concentration is completely absorbed by the activity, which shunts aside all other concerns. It's also fun to compose your own music, even if it's simple and rough. Another great thing about the electronic keyboard is that it is a very versatile and powerful instrument, capable of synthesizing over a hundred different instruments and background accompaniments. I can even play my old trumpet music, without earning the wrath of my neighbors.

This is what I love about libraries. As I wrote above, I'm learning fundamentals of music and how to play the keyboard based on books I checked out from the music library. One of the most satisfying things in life, in my opinion, is the freedom to learn and develop skill in whatever interests you, without the pressures imposed by academia. So ask yourself: what's something you've always wanted to be able to do? Assuming you're not in school anymore, your time outside of work is your own. So look it up on the Internet or read about it in a book. You may surprise yourself.

Dad's Flower Garden

~Here are some photographs I've taken of my Dad's impressive garden:

^ This is a panoramic view of the front garden. Please click here (or on the above picture) for a much better view.

^ Beautiful yellow roses near the front door. They smell very nice.

^ Another experiment in macro-level photography.

We're #1

~Once again, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) has been ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report, among 50 similar accredited higher education programs. SILS has held the #1 position for ten years now, since 1999, because it is awesome.

That is all.