community rallies against defunding of Cache County Library
Members of the Cache Valley community are campaigning to “save the Cache County Library” after county executive George Daines proposed budget cuts that would eliminate funding for the library.
The county is home to a few city libraries, but Brynnan Sainsbury, director of the Cache County Library, said this space is the only one many county residents can use for free. Residents that live outside city limits must pay a fee to check out materials and use the services of city libraries they are not zoned for.
“You can only use the Logan Library if you live in the Logan City boundaries. There are a few other city libraries that are the same. We provide access for people that don’t have it through their own cities,” Sainsbury said.
The county library mainly sees patrons from cities like Providence, River Heights, Millville and Hyde Park that don’t have their own library, but Sainsbury said even Logan residents use their services.
“We still have over 500 people from Logan using this library,” Sainsbury said.
Logan residents often utilize the county library’s online resources, which Sainsbury said offer the same materials as a city library with shorter wait times.
Daines has called county library funding a “double tax,” noting many Cache Valley residents are already paying taxes that support their city library and are then taxed again to support the county one.
The proposed budgets cuts have sparked a debate over whether county residents should continue to fund a county library system that some see as redundant but others see as an essential resource.
“Clearly, they’re fulfilling different needs,” Sainsbury said.
She believes the county library is necessary to fill the gaps left by city libraries.
“In theory, if it was meeting all their needs, they wouldn’t come here, but we still have so many people that do because we fill a different need for them,” Sainsbury said.
Sainsbury believes the consequences of defunding the library would be widespread.
“Some people have walked in and asked, ‘What happens to us? What do we do if there’s no library?’ And it’s like, ‘You don’t do anything. You don’t have the service anymore. You have to go pay somewhere to use another library that’s farther away,’” she said.
She worries the county’s most vulnerable residents will be most affected by these budget cuts.
“We serve a lot of families with little kids learning to read. Literacy rates are dropping, and having access to books is one of the best ways to increase those literacy rates,” Sainsbury said. “We also serve a lot of older people who are on fixed incomes who can’t afford books or library fees. It would hurt those vulnerable populations the most.”
Other Cache County residents are also concerned about what losing the library would mean for the community.
“Personally, I think it’ll really screw over a lot of people who are looking to get jobs, who are looking to do homework. Several of my students from when I used to work at a middle school don’t have internet at home,” said Brianna Enright, a senior at Utah State University.
Enright believes the libraries provide vital community resources, and the county library is important because it serves people who may not have access to a city library.
“I think that libraries are important because they’re one of the few places in the world where you’re allowed to exist without the expectation of having to pay to be there, and specifically, a county library is for every resident within that county, not just a resident of a city,” Enright said.
Enright lives in Trenton, which doesn’t have its own public library.
“If I wanted to go to a library, I have to go to the county one. The system of libraries in Cache County specifically is kind of a little screwed up,” Enright said. “Over in Box Elder, all of the city libraries are connected to the county library, so if you have a county membership, you can go to any of the libraries. Ideally, we would do that here, and we would be able to utilize all of our libraries to their fullest extent, but since we don’t have that yet, closing down the county library is awful.”
Sainsbury added that the value of libraries is not obvious to everyone. She said while many people may not use the county library themselves, the service could be essential for their neighbors. Enright also sees a disconnect between policymakers and library users and believes decision makers often don’t understand how essential library services are for those that don’t have an alternative.
“Having access to books on the shelf is important for kids. Having access to computers with an internet connection is important for kids, adults, teenagers, college students, everyone. Not everyone has those at home. A county library should be a refuge,” Enright said.
Sainsbury described the weeks since the proposal as emotional and scary. Library employees have worked hard to raise awareness, but ultimately, she said, the decision is up to county council representatives. She encouraged community members to reach out to their county council representatives and advocate for the library.
“I’m proud of the things that we have done, but it’s still sad,” Sainsbury said. “I keep hearing about how much people love the library, and that fills me, and that makes me feel really good, and I’m grateful that we have made an impact in people’s lives, but it almost makes it harder that if it goes away, I now know the impact that we have made.”