Closing Libraries

I must comment on the “penny-wise--pound-foolish” principle of disregarding the important role of librarians and closing libraries (Nov. 6). As a child growing up in a foster home during the Depression years in San Francisco, the library was a wondrous place which fashioned much of my imaginative and idealistic thinking.

As a volunteer grandmother reader at the Weingart Branch in East Lakewood, I feel rewarded being in a program where children of different ethnic backgrounds and varied ages come together at our tables to enjoy reading aloud and participating in crafts. On the days that I’m there I see high school students doing their studies and parents with very young children, who sit close by to listen to us. This library is so unique with its Asian and Spanish language books and tapes. All libraries are vital in that they give young people an alternative to gang membership on the streets.

MARIE STEIN, Lakewood