Ever since I was a kid I remember loving the library. I only vaguely remember my mom taking me to the one by our old house, but I remember vividly the many visits to the library near the house we moved to before I started Kindergarten. I even volunteered there for a while sometime around when I started high school. While I didn't take advantage of the library for a while after college, my love for them never went away and has only grown as I've really delved into reading more.

I remember going to the library in awe and amazement at all the books I could choose to read. I remember being so excited when I could finally get my own library card. No more mooching off my parents' cards. From someone who loves books, it was sheer joy.

The joy extends to today as well, even in adulthood. Since my wife and I have settled into our house, I've taken advantage of my township and county's library system quite a bit. It's awesome, I can use Libby to check out audio books on my phone, and eBooks for my Kindle. I can also use their online portal to request any physical book they have in their system anywhere in the county. If it's not at my township library, they'll ship it from wherever it's at to my local library for pickup. It's convenient and it unlocks access to more books than I ever would have thought possible as a kid.

Beyond the joy, rewinding a bit back to my middle school and high school years, the library provided the resources for me to do school projects. Their encyclopedias (remember those?) and other reference materials were always available and the librarians were always helpful. In college, I was even able to save some money on some one-off textbooks by just using the library's copy. I could only use it in the library, but it saved me well over a hundred dollars (in early 2000s money) from having to buy the book for a single 10 week class.

And I'm sure there's more that libraries can do or provide resources for. I know some libraries can help get people connected to the internet, job hunt, I've even heard of some libraries offering the ability to borrow hand tools like drills and whatnot. Their ability to inspire awe in book lovers is only one part of their magic.

Nowadays, we are unfortunately dealing with threats to these fountains of knowledge. Over the last ten years, we're seeing politicians, primarily on the right attack libraries, institute book bans, and pull funding. I've been fortunate in that it's not affecting me directly (yet), but others aren't so lucky.

Politicians and parental groups are getting all bent out of shape because kids have access to books they don't like. And instead of simply choosing what their own child reads, they're pushing to ban books and shutter libraries. It's the equivalent of a parent being mad their kid was picked last for soccer, then taking the ball home so that no kid can play soccer.

Public libraries are a treasure. I'm going to continue to treasure them. In these uncertain times, I hope we can make sure they provide the same magic to the future generations as they did for me.