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Letter: Library fee abandons literacy values

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Staff

The Chapel Hill Town Council’s proposal to charge a fee (per person? per family?) for nonresidents who use our library fills me with sadness, dismay and disappointment.

A user fee would betoken the abandonment of one of the outstanding characteristics that distinguishes our town: our sense of community, our record of caring for and helping each other. That community encompasses all who value literacy, who want to develop minds, who understand that reading and thinking is what forms a community. It does not end at the administrative boundaries of Chapel Hill.

A user fee would prevent many current nonresident patrons from using the library, especially in these financially difficult times. Especially for a university community, one that values literacy and prides itself on the fact that our library is among the most frequently patronized in the area, this would be a shameful, anti-intellectual act. 

The recent intense participation of patrons in the town’s deliberations on its location and its many enthusiastic library volunteers (I am one!) show how our library fosters community. Prohibiting a large number of its patrons by charging a user fee would undermine that valued aspect of Chapel Hill.

Judy Bellin
Chapel Hill

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