Libraries, as a public resource, offer more than just books. The library acts a communal gathering place without a fiscal barrier to entry. The library is a space for people to look for jobs, rent movies, read academic texts, use pay phones, and even, depending on location, look for grant funding. However, the focus on car-dependent infrastructure and privatization of once-public transportation has deeply impacted the radius libraries encompass and the patronage statistics of libraries.
My local library offers certification services such as LinkedIn learning and universal classes for those looking to expand their career opportunities, an online genealogical database, and movies. It shows via the Kanopy streaming service, free membership into local black and deaf history archives as well as vetted resources for homeschooling and public schooling parents to utilize. However, of the nine permanent and two satellite libraries that make up the core distribution of libraries (not counting the access center, creator lab, and friends of the library center) 3 permanent locations are within Fredericksburg city, three are within a King George county, a county spanning 179.6 miles squared. One is located in Stafford, and one is located in Spotsylvania; both gray areas located near other library systems. The two satellite locations are in Caroline county a county spanning 527.4 miles squared and statistically the poorest municipality within the five-municipality system. Individually, this is relatively normal a family would go on a bus after school to one of the satellite locations or perhaps take a longer trip down to the city center to explore a larger collection without having to wait for the satellite system to get a hold of any requested titles. There is no public transportation. A county 527.4 miles squared is not serviced by any publicly available transportation system. The VRE does not run through the municipality, no train station remains operational, no bus routes exist within the bounds of the municipality. Historically, however, this was not the case; Caroline County had only just been reported to have gained a bus line in 2018 before fading into nothing. This, alongside an unwillingness to implement rent control legislation, a lack of funding for the municipal food bank system, and a willingness to disproportionately prioritize expensing a police force that has disturbed the peace, used excessive force on protesters, and destroyed or harmed public and private property has increased homelessness, put a strain on public resources and has increased the capital of the city’s political elite at the expensive of working people in 5 separate municipalities. While this story focuses on a middle-of-the-road Virginian metropolitan area, stories similar to this are becoming common in the United States as cop city locations have blossomed within the Trump-Biden era. The systemic issues that are deepening inequity are Federal, State, and Local. While federal policies allow and invite legislation at local and state levels, one can see through the example of the library system that systemic issues tend towards being reproductions of issues at the local level (ex: failure to service both in transportation and in library services). A similar, local solution to all of these problems can be found if the populace understands that these local decisions are made by local people housed locally. During this election cycle, it is pertinent to remember that voting invites local policy changes but that local policy changes are formed through local governments controlled by a person who, if you dig very slightly, may turn out to be your neighbor.
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