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Most people, including myself, have been practicing social distancing in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. We try to limit time spent in public and contact with others in order to protect ourselves, our families, and the individuals who are most highly at risk. In response to the crisis, many organizations, like libraries, are temporarily closed to physical visitors.

During the uncertain times of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a group Chicago Metropolitan Area public libraries have banded together under the initiative of the Joliet Public Library to transform their book returns into drop-off points for donations of protective equipment such as masks, sanitizer, gloves, gowns, and more to be distributed to local hospitals and health care workers.

Your local public library is likely tied, inextricably, to your local economy. Most public libraries in the United States are paid for by some combination of sales and property tax. As spending halts, so does financial support for the library. We’re already seeing sweeping cuts to local administrations, laying off or furloughing hundreds of workers, library workers along with them. This isn’t false hype or hysteria. It’s happening. It will get worse.

I love libraries. It’s a love that began when I was in preschool and continues to this day. My love of listening to and reading stories dates back to my early childhood in suburban Chicago.

Libraries are radical places. If someone, say a politician, were to propose that society invest its money in creating organizations where people could access information in books, the internet, newspapers, they would be met with questioning looks. Or a place where people can go to meet together or work independently.

I became a librarian because, as an awkward, introverted youth, books were my safe space.  I was raised by old people, so connecting to people my age has always been difficult. I found in books the connections I couldn't make in real life. In college, you're asked the question, "what would you do if money was no issue." My answer 

I’ve wanted to be in education as long as I can remember.  My mother, a retired Special Education teacher, was adamant that I was not going into the field. In her mind, I could do something more noble than she.  I had so many opportunities that she did not have, and she wanted me to have the world.