Originally published 6/30/10 in the Lansing City Pulse.

by Gavin Craig – Lansing, MI

In 2005, my wife and I moved back to the Lansing area after an unsuccessful year looking for work in Detroit and the east coast. We knew the area well from our time at Michigan State University, but we were coming back without much of a support system. Our closest family was in Detroit (my father lives in Chicago, and my wife’s parents in New Jersey), and nearly all of our friends had moved out of the area (and the state). Our daughter was a little more than a year old at the time, and we were expecting our second.

We were living on a single income, and needed entertainment and educational resources for a stay-at-home-mother and a place for the family to get out and socialize. We found all of this in the Capital Area District Library’s Foster branch, which had a great collection of kids’ books and music, and a weekly story hour.

Our children are older now, and my wife and I are both working full-time, but the library is still a big part of our lives. Our daughters check out more chapter books than picture books these days (Cynthia Rylant is a particular favorite), but Sesame Street CDs are still popular, and audiobooks still keep us all happy, healthy, and sane on the long drives to visit grandparents in Chicago, New Jersey and Tennessee.

Aug. 3, voters will be asked to renew the millage that supports the Capital Area District Library. Even with increased operation costs and record levels of library use, CADL has not requested additional funds, but only a renewal of the millage. This millage covers nearly 90 percent of CADL’s operation. Without it, 13 CADL branches will close by Jan. 3, 2011.

The Capital Area District Library is an essential community resource, and one of the best values in the area. In 2009, more than 1.5 million visitors checked out 2.7 million items. My family conservatively estimates that we get $148 for every dollar of our property taxes that goes to support the library.

Even more, my daughters get excited when it’s time to go to the library. They love to return books on the conveyor belt in the downtown branch, they meet up with friends by accident or at special events. They sit and read, and read and read.

Please vote to renew CADL’s millage on August 3. The library is a treasure.