We Get Letters: Support Your Local Library

I am very concerned about funding for Pasadena city libraries (“Public Library Officials Say City Libraries Face ‘Drastic’ Cuts Without Tax Extension,” Pasadena Now, July 12). 

I am a retired professor (USC) of Linguistics and Education.  Much of my research is in the area of reading and libraries. Here’s what I have found and reported: Those who do more self-selected reading (including fiction) read better, write better, have larger vocabularies, and spell better.  They also know more about history, current events, and science, and they have a greater understanding of others.  

Support for local public libraries and public librarians has a positive effect on children: circulation of children’s materials in public libraries is associated with improved reading test scores for children in nearby school districts. 

To take advantage of the “power of reading,” however, readers need access to reading material.  For those living in poverty, the library is the only source of reading material, and because of rising costs, the public library has become more important for most of us.  

“When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” — Isaac Asimov

Stephen Krashen
Prof. Emeritus, USC

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com