Ferguson is a mess. The schools are closed, part of the town is smoldering, people are angry and justice got away.
But the Ferguson Public Library remains open!
Since that fateful August day when a trigger-happy police officer forever altered the fate of the town the Ferguson Public Library has been open and has played a significant role in helping the community get back on its feet.
From an ABC News story that aired on August 20, 2014 Ferguson Library Becomes Refuge for Adults and Children Amid Strife:
Amid all of the strife engulfing Ferguson, Missouri, this month, there is one spot in town that has become a refuge for children and parents: the library.
The Ferguson Library has been an oasis of calm since the town’s residents erupted in anger at the police after a Ferguson cop shot and killed an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, on Aug. 9.
It has used Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to offer residents a place of respite for them to get bottled water, check their emails, and avoid the unrest developing on Ferguson’s streets.
It was at the library where school was in session, it was at the library that people went to feel safe, it was at the library that people got some of their basic needs met during very difficult times.
And the best part of it all is that library was simply doing what a library is designed to do!
An editorial by Rebecca T. Miller, the Editorial Director, Library Journal and School Library Journal, in September further espouses the seminal role the public library plays in our world.
As someone who is motivated by the belief that libraries can save lives, sometimes in the simplest of ways, I am proud of the steadfast library service delivered in Ferguson. I am moved that at the core of the social and civic unrest that left the community feeling unsafe at worst and unsettled at best one institution provided a refuge, not by changing but by doing what it was created to do. I am thankful that the public library—there for everyone—let the people of Ferguson know they had a caring, attuned resource at hand and that it stayed open.
And the story gores on. This tweet was sent by the Ferguson Library on the morning of November, 25th:
WE ARE OPEN! Teachers and volunteers are here 9am-3pm to help kids who can’t go to school today. Library open 9-4, presuming it stays safe.
Lastly, if you can’t take to the streets to make your voice heard perhaps consider a donation to the Ferguson Library. Supporting the voice of the library is as an important a way to show your support!