1. Local Archives

Many, if not all, libraries collect an archive of important information, news stories, and headlines from the city and surrounding communities they reside in. One of the first and most convenient resources on your local history comes in the form of these collections found in your local library. You supporting the library is, in turn, you supporting the community's access to a locally-focused historical database.

2. Cultural Centers

Whether in the form of book clubs for parents or summer reading clubs for kids, whether being performance venues for poets or hosting meet and greets for authors, whether organizing new events for themselves or helping plan traditions throughout the community, libraries have a vast, multi-purpose function by being centers for those within the community to find something to do.

Supporting your local library helps keep the adults in your community engaged in local events and gives them the resources to keep their children involved in productive programs.

3. Free Resources

Libraries are almost always run entirely on donations, this means everything they provide under their memberships comes to people for free or for a small one-time registration fee. Under this membership comes access to everything they have to offer, from their main function of book rental to their internet access and computer stations to their databases of information and community resources.

Keeping your library running keeps these memberships and their benefits around for everyone, helping people do everything from simply finding a nice book to read to getting themselves through online schooling and finding jobs to secure their livelihoods and futures.

4. Support Local Business

Libraries are often in downtown areas and near storefronts, and some will even get involved with those locally-owned businesses in their communities, whether or not they share a city block. Keeping libraries up and running and keeping them popular hubs in the community brings more traffic to those storefronts located near and supported by the library.

5. Community Engagement

Serving so many purposes, library staff tend to be the most well-informed people on what is and is not working within in the community, while also having the power and connections to do something about it. As different people come through the library once or twice and as even more people frequent the library for a multitude of reasons, those working at the library get the opportunity to learn about these people living in their community.

These people come from a multitude of backgrounds, and as a result, help inform librarians about their struggles and complaints. In many communities, librarians are the first step between the people and those representing the people. Depending on the size of the city, those working at the library may have the resources to contact government officials in the city, state, or even federal levels about what they see.

On top of this, libraries themselves have resources to help open dialogue about or fix the smaller problems within the community by hosting different forums and events. Supporting the local library truly means supporting the local community as a whole.

6. Local Access to the Arts

Libraries serve as a center for the arts in their communities. All libraries are, of course, a location wherein to explore literature and discuss it with others, but there are many other ways to engage in the arts via your local library. Many libraries host different authors and poets for readings, or local acoustic musicians for performances, or will get in contact with local artists to set up galleries for them to display their works, all for free, oftentimes without even needing a membership.

Whether this happens in the library itself or in other community spaces, a library may very frequently be a sponsor, if not a host of, these events. Some larger libraries will even provide art classes to those with a membership at little or no cost, allowing people to learn and to express themselves in positive ways without also breaking the bank. Keeping these programs running helps keep your community well-cultured and well-engaged in positive ways.