Derailed by thieves

Devastating news lurked in my inbox this morning. One of the Literacy Coalition's partners will have to shut down indefinitely due to vandalism and theft. The air conditioning units at the Austin Public Library's Ruiz branch were destroyed by vandals over the weekend leaving the library without A/C units. Why anyone would want to derail the wonderful services our libraries provide to the community is beyond me. Clearly the vandals have never taken advantage of the library's open door policy, welcoming anyone in the community in need of its services. They've never met the wonderful, often volunteer-driven staff that dedicate their time and energy to answering questions, promoting local programs, checking out books, meeting members of the community, and helping to provide computer and internet access. An awareness is missing that by forcing a library to close, the vandals are hurting their very own community! There's nothing quite so satisfying as stepping in to a cool library on a hot Texas afternoon and sitting down to read in a quiet corner. What an unnecessary tragedy this is! Our thoughts go out to our wonderful friends and partners at the Ruiz branch.