It’s generally safe to assume most of us have a library in or around our hometown, and a childhood memory to go along with it. It might also be safe to assume, now in this fast-paced, modern age, that majority of us haven’t been to that library in quite a long time. Or any library for that matter. The reason why can’t be strictly defined—since everyone has their own life to lead and troubles to deal with and no, this isn’t a “yelling at you” moment where you’ll be guilted into slinking into your local library—but the why, despite its vagueness, is important.

Libraries are and have always been, a communal center. They offer services, internet access, books (and not just books, but magazines, music, dvd’s, etc.), record-keeping, and more. It’s a place you can exist, free of charge, and that’s something really powerful. At first glance, this might seem like an over-exaggeration, especially since you can get all of these things yourself, out in the world, at stores or on your computer. Yet, the more you look into libraries, the more obvious it becomes that their existence doesn’t just revolve around shelving books.

The services and space they offer aids in the growth of a community. It might not come with an immediate bang or a colorful presentation, but the gradual education and network building of a community can accomplish amazing things. The problem, or rather the observation that has caused the composition of this article, is that no one seems to be using them.

It’s understandable why you might have fallen out of practice with your library over the years. After all, not all libraries have a question hotline like the New York Public Library. Most of them have the same amenities as others, some might have even less, due to miniscule use from it’s community. If you come from a small town like I do, the library might even be smaller than some of the houses in the area.

In “22 Jump Street,” they find out that the drug suppliers have been hiding drugs in library books because it’s “where literally no one goes anymore, man.” So, yeah, library’s have sort have lost their luster over the past decade, for an entire array of different reasons.

But as it has just been stated, libraries are important and they can serve you well. If you’re a bookworm, try visiting your library every once and awhile. Purchasing a book for yourself is extremely satisfying, but if you read four, five, six books within a week, think of how much money you’d be saving by borrowing them from a library. If you find yourself responsible for watching a toddler and can’t think of something to do, visit a library with them and see what might be offered (the toddler might just become a bookworm themself). Need to learn something and for the first time the internet isn’t giving you an answer? There’s a good chance the library might. . .but what if they didn’t? And what if they didn’t have it because their technology or resources were out of date?

There’s been a general consensus that library’s are fading, much like small bookstores and newspapers. This is troublesome, because again they are essential, but it’s not something unfixable. Libraries can seem like an immovable force, stuck in the past where you have to deadlift an extra thick dictionary up on to a table just to find the definition of a single word, but that isn’t true. They are modernizing and from someone who has started visiting the library more frequently for the first time in years, I have to say that the only reason why they aren’t moving faster is because they don’t have our support.

Yes, all libraries receive funding, but what would happen if their amount of visitors and patrons increased? What if all libraries were able to modernize in a way that wasn’t just a row of computers? Some have, but many have not; I know my local libraries sure haven’t. Technology has made such large strides, but there’s a potential in libraries that’s yet to be unlocked and we shouldn’t wait until it’s too late to help. So, go renew that old library card at the bottom of your bag or stuck at the very back of your wallet, and while you’re there, see what could improve. Look at how much is offered to you and think of what might happen if it all disappeared. Hopefully, if we increase our support, that’ll never happen.