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There's too much to say, and too many people have already said it. But I have to chime in about kids.

No parent, no matter how affluent, can afford to buy all of the books that a child might want or benefit from; hence, a library system is a boon to the family. A young child attempting his or her first research report quickly becomes overwhelmed and goes astray when attempting to find information on-line, whereas at the library, look up stations and knowledgeable librarians are available to quickly and painlessly guide the child to books, videos and other media specifically tailored to the child's age and reading level. This, without pop-ups leading to porn sites and malware.

My children (middle school age) do not understand that Google is a site without content; asked "where did you find that information?" they respond, "On Google." They do not understand that the search results come up based on paid promotion. Furthermore, books are copy-edited and fact checked; websites can be posted by anyone without verification. Just the other day, my son was at a school-sponsored website that contained incorrect information on his research topic. We cannot just set children adrift in the uncharted waters of the Internet and pretend that they are better off.

Children need books, and therefore, children need libraries. It is truly that simple.