On August 4, 2009, the Louisville Free Public Library suffered a disaster when their building flooded. The library building sustained a great deal of damage, and the employees are still cleaning up the mess. In order to raise awareness of the needs of the library and to raise funds to help them, librarians are celebrating “Why Libraries Rock!” blogathon today.
In this age of dwindling resources, it’s amazing that you can get so much for free at your local library. In addition to the obvious resources like books and audiovisuals, most libraries offer a wealth of online sources. Here at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College Library, patrons have access to over 60 databases. Topics covered in the databases range from health, business, literature, and current events. We also have access to the back issues of our local newspaper, the Middlesboro Daily News, for the past 5 years.
Personally, I frequently make use of the library’s Interlibrary Loan function. Because most libraries belong to a resource-sharing group, our library is able to get nearly any item sent to us for free from any library around the United States! Since our library can’t afford to buy all the books I want to read and audio books I want to listen to, this is a wonderful service.
The Louisville Free Public Library has been incredibly generous over the years in sending us items that we requested through Interlibrary Loan. Now that they are in need of our help. A foundation has been set up to take donations to help the library recover. If you would like to donate, you can find out more at the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation.
What are some ways that libraries ROCK your world? Feel free to let us know!
