Letter to the editor: Restoring R.H. Stafford Library hours is welcome news

The cover story in Woodbury Bulletin (Oct. 3) on one-time funding to restore Sunday and Monday hours at R.H. Stafford Library in 2013 is great news. I am excited to have the Library open seven days a week again.

On Monday, two days prior to reading the news, I picked up my kids and went to the library to return and check out books. I was stopped at the library entrance by the closed door. I forgot that the library is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Since I moved to Woodbury in 2001, the library was always open seven days a week. I could stop by any day without thinking.

Last year, as part of a cost-saving measure, Sunday and Monday hours were eliminated. But somehow the reality of having a closed library has never sunk in with me. Several times I found myself standing at the closed door, wondering why it was closed and how I could forget it again.

Woodbury’s library is the center of the community. It’s a place where everyone - young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, Republican and Democratic, black and white, native and transplanted – is welcomed and treated equally, where access to information and resources is available to anyone whether he can afford it or not.

In times of economic hardship, it’s more important than ever to keep the library open. People turn to, and depend on their libraries more than ever – for employment and homework resources, reading materials, entertainment, and free Internet access.

Thanks to the Washington County Library Director Pat Conley, board members, County Commissioner Lisa Weik, Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens and everyone who has supported and advocated for the Library, and for helping restore the library hours. You have done a great service for the community.

Qin Tang - Woodbury

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion