brainsplotch

I work at a library in the blue collar Midwest. We get an extremely broad mix of patrons: everyone from families, to elderly people, to folks desperately trying to find jobs and who use our computers in order to fill out applications and create resumes. I see so many people come in the library who have little idea about the very basics of using a computer. They don't know how to use the internet, they have no idea how to set up an email account, or use Microsoft Word. One would think that by the year 2010, most people would know the basics of computer usage, but this is not the case. There are so many people who are being left behind by our increasingly technological world. I'm not just talking about older folks, either. There are people in their thirties and even a few in their twenties who struggle with new technology. This is an even bigger issue recently because many companies and businesses only accept online applications. On Tuesday, a...

I'm a little nervous these days, and that's because the Capital Area District Library here in Ingham County, Michigan, has its millage up for renewal on August 3. Not only am I a patron of the Capital Area District Library (CADL), but I am also employed there. 90 percent of CADL's operating costs come from our millage, which is derived from homeowner's property tax in the county. Since property values have decreased substantially in Ingham County (and the rest of Michigan, for that matter) over the last four years, CADL will not receive as much money as it did before. Therefore, if the millage does not pass, the library system will close (and yours truly will be out of a job by the end of 2010, as will all of my CADL cohorts). But the loss of the library system will have more far-reaching consequences beyond my own self-interests. Everyone in the county, and all of our non-Ingham County patrons, will be without a library system. They'll have to look elsewhere ...