Library use is on the rise! Learn about the important role that libraries play in tough economic times.

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Andread what local library users have to say about their libraries.

Join the conversation! Take a moment to tell us about the library’s role in your life.

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Since January 2009, we have been asking you to tell us how libraries improve the quality of your life. Here are some recent comments:

The potential problem(s) of being partialy disabled are minimized (or eliminated!) thanks to the cheerful, speedy availability of books that all you folks offer. I thank you, and thank you again. It makes a profound difference in my life.

I love the library. I go to the Duxbury library at least once a week. I take out books, movies and CDs. I work in Boston, and my commute can sometimes take 1.5 hours. I love listening to my favorite authors on CD. I don’t know what I would do without the public library.

The Rockland Library is a wonderful place that offers so many services and wonderful people to help you use those services. There are books, magazines, computers, craft classes, local meetings, teen groups, book discussion groups and friendly, knowledgeable people to walk you through everything. I’m at the library at least once a week and the staff is unfailingly cheerful and attentive . Wherever I live, the library is one of the first places that I go because it is an inexpensive, accessible resource, providing me with so much enrichment and pleasure. I see the computers in use all the time because not everyone has access to the Internet, or the skill to use what they do have. The library is a safe, interesting and irreplaceabl! e asset. We LOVE our library and the people who work there.

I use the computer area daily. The friendly staff are wonderfully helpful, answering questions and teach computer courses to improve my skills.
Last Tuesday I participated in a excellent Monet impression pastel class taught by a professional artist. The free class was fun and imformative. I hope another like class will be offered soon. I am reading a newly published book which I requested the library consider buying.
Since I was a child I have enjoyed the value of the imense library offer-ings. I believe my life has been improved 100% by the Braintree library, and their fine staff, especially Nancy Yee, Moira & Priscilla.

Please use our form to tell us your story!

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You are telling us about how the library provides you with reading materials, with resources and programs for your children and with internet access. You are also telling us that the library is a community center, more than just a place to get a good book, you value the library as place to learn new things and make new friends.

If you haven’t already, please tell us YOUR story!

Want to find the value of the library services that you use most? See our Value of Service Calculator!

Here are some more stories.

As a stay at home mom, the library is so important to us! We go to the library for the Toddler Tales which introduces my daughter to reading and is great socialization for her. I have met people in the community at the library. I also use the library website for myself all the time. I don’t have time to browse for books and I can’t afford to buy books anymore like I used to . The website is so convenient, I wouldn’t read as much without it. It is so easy to just pick up your book at the counter!

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Plymouth

The library is a government service that I use daily. I cancelled my home internet service years ago. When I need it outside of work, I go to the library and use it there. The convenience of the Old Colony Network is incredible. I pick up books in Braintree, return to Hingham, it’s awesome. I can order stuff online like best sellers and I get notified when they’re in. For movies, you can’t beat the price. I don’t even begrudge the $1.00 per day late fee after all those years of punitive penalties from Blockbuster! I can’t even understand how bookstores are in business. The only books I want to own are reference and cookbooks.

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Braintree

My children enjoy the library so very much. The librarians know their name which makes us all feel at home. It’s such a relaxing atmosphere to read a book, color a picture and explore. I calculated the services we receive would cost us $300 a month. My children would not visit anywhere near as many museums or get to read such a variety of books without the library. I already wish the library was open more often, I’d hate for it to loose even 1 hour.

I enjoy the library just as much. I borrow books, movies, magazines. I bring my laptop to work which is a better place atmosphere and more affordable than a Starbucks or other establishment which requires a purchase to visit.

Our lives are so enriched by the library. Society needs its individuals to be curious, care about others, intellectually stimulated, and part of their community for all to thrive.

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Holbrook

I love my library.
At a town planning meeting we were asked by the planners ,hired by a million dollar grant, to tell them some of the great things about our town. I spoke up about the library. That was greeted with a chorus of “oh yes! ” from many voices around the room. All ages were represented at that meeting. Everyone agreed we have a great library that is well used by a very high percentage of families in town.

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Sandwich, Mass

The library helped me raise my children to be socially aware, responsible, worldly, thoughtful, imaginative, cerebral, creative, resourceful, frugal, and “green.” Rarely a week goes by that we are not borrowing or returning; often several times within the week. From the time they were litte, I read nightly to my little ones, and then well beyond into the time they could read themselves. My youngest is nine years old now, and we still read together. All of us have this incredible opportunity to learn, observe, grow through the resources of the library. To list every library service and resource we have taken advantage of would be to name them ALL. The library MUST keep up with the technologies and resources of the times or will become! obsolete. The free library system is the one public institution that benefits the whole community DIRECTLY and IMMEDIATELY. There are no limits on age, economic status, birth, color, creed, religion, etc., and therefore, gives unbiased to all. The library is my wellspring of knowledge and self-education. I do not have the money, resources, and time it would take to have the same services and resources without the library. I can say this without hyperbole, I would not be who I am today without the resources and services of the free library.

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Kingston Library, East Bridgewater Library, Brockton Library

The library keeps me and my family connected to the community. We’ve met other children and their parents while playing in the children’s area, attending children’s story, and playing board games. My son now 6 years old sees the library as a place to make new friends, read books and borrow movies. In addition, the library is place where I used to go to study and away from my noisy home when I was working toward my masters degree. The staff was friendly and would check in on me periodically as encouragement.
Name of the library that you use most frequently: Canton, Sharon & Walpole

Libraries are essential. They are the portal to new worlds. I have always loved libraries. Checking out tons of books on all sorts of subjects, checking out movies and using the computers when I have no internet access at home. I love the Rockland Memorial Library. The people there are friendly. I’ve met so many interesting people at the library’s book club. I couldn’t imagine life without my local library!

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Rockland Memorial Library

The services provided by the Old Colony Library Network are invaluable to me as a community member. Having access to all of the libraries in the network allow me and my family to easily obtain reading and video material that we find to be such an enjoyable and necessary as part of everyday life. Our local library (Whitman) is a terrific place to visit and spend time. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. The concept of a local library is so ingrained in the fabric of our American heritage it deserves, and has earned the right, to contiune in its present form. What a tragedy it would be were it to be changed in any way. The economic pressures community members currently endure make library services that m! uch more critical to them. We need the services currently provided by our libraries to continue unabated. Thank you

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Whitman Public Library

The public library is the most open, abundant source of pleasure, learning, satisfaction in town! To be able to take out HEAPS of books and audio books is to have access to the world, to history, to so much pleasure—and all for free!!!! It’s the most amazing resource, and we need to fund and protect it jealously because democracy stands best where there is an informed populace. Public libraries are key. And so much fun!

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Kingston

I was overwhelmed by gratitude this morning to see no fewer than 24 preschool children - accompanied by moms, dads, grandparents - enthralled by the drop-in “Baby Book Time” program. There were easily another dozen children in the library proper as this program was going on. I felt so grateful to our librarians for providing a weekly “open house” for the youngest children in our town - especially for families who may not be able to afford preschool. You don’t even have to sign up - just come and be welcome. What a wonderful way to encourage children to move away from television and towards books.

Name of the library that you use most frequently: Walpole Public Library

Have something to share? Tell us YOUR story!

The stories keep coming in!

If you haven’t yet responded to “Tell us how Libraries improve the quality of your life” please take a moment to do so. Also, use our Value of Library Service Calculator to calculate the financial value of the services that you use.

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Here are some more comments that we have received over the past several days:

I am a student currently in the seventh grade. I have had a library card since before I was in school.
My mom has always encouraged me to read but without the public library I could never of become the reader I am. I know that there are people in the world that say they ,”don’t like reading.” Whether its a 400 page encyclopedia or a four page picture book, everyone needs reading (even if they dont like it). Just think about how hard finding the brand new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be without a library system to place holds. A library isn’t just for reading either. Its a safe environment for any old kid to do their homework. Its for teachers to read up on strategies for MCAS open responses. Its for the nervous parent ! to take out 37 books on SATs. Its for the procrasinator to find a book on George Bernard Shaw so they can pull together that A+. Its for the shy student to put together a play with a few friends on Oliver Twist. Its even the place for Quincy Police to hold a public meeting on safety. To me a library isn’t a luxury, its an essential part of our community.

Since the age of 5, I learned the value of the library. I lived in Boston at the time and my mom and I walked every day to the BPL. Back then children were limited to 5 books, but because my mom and I were such good patrons they always let me have more and my poor mom never complained as we walked the 1.5 miles home with an armload of my books to my mom’s one book! I moved to Colorado and visited the Vale library every day. I was the first every seasonal worker to receive a library card. Forty years later, I still visit the library every day and I thank my mom for all those years long ago when she showed me the value of the library!

My family uses approx $480 worth of services per week! I am raising 4 readers, thank goodness, and we avail ourselves of this wonderful public resource. From audiotapes for long car rides, books, magazines, etc, we do it all. And the access to the entire OCLN network transforms our small, small town library, into a large one. A public library permits everyone, regardless of income, to become better educated, better informed, and better people. It is tax money well spent.

My daughters and I visit one of our local libraries a minimum of once per week, sometimes more. It is their favorite place to go, and I am so pleased that they have caught the “bookworm bug” like their mama. We take full advantage of Interlibrary Loans, which has been so wonderful for us when I want to teach them about a certain topic… and cannot find the books at our local library. I cringe at the thought of budget cuts and I hope it doesn’t come to that. Our family would feel the loss for sure.

I am retired and living on just my Social Security. The Canton library is my Saturday night out at the movies, and my social life giving me the ability to join in discussions at my book club. Using my library and the ability to borrow from other libraries in MA has allowed me to teach myself a bit about Shakespeare’s plays, which I never had the time to study before. I depend on my library to support me in many ways, making my retirement a joyous one.

We asked, and now you are telling us!

Many have already responded to “Tell us how Libraries improve the quality of your life” and some of you have used our Value of Library Service Calculator

If you have not done so already, please take a moment to visit our form and post your comments!

Here are a few of the comments that we have already received!


My whole family uses our public library. We are there at least once a week. The kids and adults all take out books. From pleasure reading to books that assist with school assignments, the library is a wonderful resource. We also take out DVD's. This service is great, we get the DVD's for a week and although we do end up buying some of the DVD's anyways, some of them are just fun to see once or twice and then be done with it. We would be very saddened if anything happened and the library was to cut back on resources. Our library is staffed with many helpful and friendly people. I know some of them are volunteers, but for those who are not, it would be heartbreaking if they were to lose their jobs in this terrible economy.


I am a voracious reader and would never be able to afford all of the books that I read during a year. I read fiction during my commutes to work via train. I also use library resources whenever I am learning about something new, like how to crochet or if I have gardening questions, to find books that will help me learn. I volunteer as a mentor/reader to a 2nd grader in a Cambridge school and use the library to fine books for us to read together. I use the online databases available through the libraries to do personal research. I can't imagine what I would do without having library resources available.


Using the calculator, I determined checking out 15 books each week, half of them through the interlibrary service, and two DVDs. I am saving approximately 325.00 per week. That is astonishing!

Reading is my primary recreation. I could neither afford nor find the books that are available through OCLN. A public library is second only to public education is guaranteeing that everyone has the opportunity to better oneself no matter the circumstances.

My life, especially my intellectual and psychological well-being, would be dramatically and negatively affected if the library could no longer provide the same services and opportunities.


The Thomas Crane library is fantastic in every way. They seem to have everything that I would be looking for and it's a great place to be. With plenty of nice, open spots and a spot to grab a coffee or hot chocolate, it's the perfect place to get some work done.


The library tapes are helping me to learn Spanish which I would like to know, since my son's in-laws can only speak a little English. It provides us with entertainment in the form of books and videos. It furnishes me with art books, so I can learn from the masters. It provides my daughter, who has Down Syndrome, new videos to watch. We are working on getting her interested in the audio books, but that is not happening yet. It provides a place to view the art of the community which they change monthly. It also gives the Are Association, of which I am a member, also has a place to meet,.We love our library.


I love the library, any and all libraries. I love to read, listen to books on CD, and watch movies. The library lets me have such a greater range, than if I had to buy these products. I love to enter a library, it has so many different things at my finger tips. I can learn, from the nonfiction items and get taken away to so many different places, feelings and conciousnesses. (sp.?) I love getting on the computer at home and looking at the new books coming out and ordering them, with click of the mouse. I think that the libraries have really done well with keeping up with our new technical achievments. I make good use of the network and go to many libraries. I thank you for that. What does add to some libraries is a frien! dly attitude by the people working there. Some libraries the people seem to enjoy their work and are interested in hearing about particular books, some places are friendly and efficient, which is also good, some are efficient. Thank you for letting me voice my appreciation.


I am an avid reader who reads all different styles of work. With my own job cut down to 4 days due to the current economy, the only form of entertainment that I can afford is reading. Using the OCLN system allows me this opportunity. In 2008 I read 150 books, of which I would say 75-80% were via the OCLN. Without this resource, I would not be able to afford to purchase all these books.

Also with the the current recession, more and more families are cutting back. This therefore means the libraries are more important to their communities then ever. There are families through out the country who need the library during this trying time. For their children's education, for resume workshops, and for general entertainment values.

While cities and towns are in dire straits, it is imperative that the libraries maintain their resources in order to serve their communities. Our city and town leaders need to stop targeting libraries as the "easy target" to cut. The library is just as a necessity to a community as are the police and fire departments.