Libraries: Cutting services will cut vital lifeline

Re: “Library cuts put region’s history at risk,” (TNT, 6/30).

Your editorial puts the point succinctly by stating about libraries, that “to believe they don’t protect and serve or they won’t transport us into the future is dangerously short-sighted.”

As a librarian with a different agency in the area, I can state unequivocally that public libraries are a vital link in the educational and cultural life of a community. They provide early-childhood literacy services, instruction in digital literacy, lifelong educational opportunities, business and financial skills training, job search assistance, and programs that broaden and deepen civic engagement, appreciation of the arts and literature, and community involvement.

Cut where you will, City of Tacoma, but beware of cutting into a lifeline for so many parts of our community.

This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Libraries: Cutting services will cut vital lifeline."