I want my library back.

We all know the phrase "Put your money where your mouth is." The Republican-controlled Ohio government has put its money, and it sure isn't with Ohio citizens. The Ohio House of Representatives have already passed a version of Governor Taft’s budget where the Dayton Metro Library will lose an additional $950,000 in state support starting next January. Libraries are a public trust. They are a basic investment in the "well-informed citizenry" that this country was founded on. They are not a for-profit business, nor should they be run as one. They are a resource, part of the public good. They are money well-spent on you and I. The Republicans, of course, want to make them into yet another rental outlet, to make them more "commercial". Changing them to be more commercial - charging rental fees for media, for example - simply is a bad idea. Like all investments, the "payoff" may not be in direct income, but in the people who benefit from it. Their reluctance to fully fund public libraries shows how little the GOP thinks of Ohioans. Read more, and let them know how you feel about this here.