Five Reasons Not to Build a Public Library in a Small Town...During a Pandemic

1.    Half the town thinks it’s a great idea. Half the town reads mainly hunting magazines and can’t see why anyone would ever go to a library.

2.    Half the town wants to help pay for it but has only dollar bills to share. Half the town doesn’t think it’s worth even a nickel. Less than 1% have any actual money and they get hit up for every damn thing.

3.    Putting up public buildings takes so long that everyone gets sick to death of hearing about it and doesn’t think it’ll ever happen and doesn’t want to be asked for another penny.

4.    The only actual money comes from state and federal agencies who like to fund things in struggling towns but want to get repaid in blood—aka paperwork.

5.    After five years of raising money, a global pandemic could incite a building boom that could double the cost of the project. Costs could rise much faster than pandemic relief money flows. The project could get delayed another two years.

And then...wonder of wonder, miracles of miracles, a library begins to be built.

All those reasons listed above...they’re only dust motes. Who cares? It’s a new library being born. One that will live a hundred years and give thousands of people a place to read and work and make art and talk to each other. A place that could hold workshops on every possible topic—even hunting. That will stitch together the fabric of a community that’s struggled to find a unifying thread.

But will I ever build another thing in a small town? See above.