Editorials - 05/08/03

Library belongs in downtown Sylva

When a town is the county seat, as Sylva is, it is expected to offer even more. Across America, rural county seats have stores, restaurants, a courthouse, a firehouse, a police station, a city hall... and a library.

We like to see Sylva as a hub for the county - a place where services are consolidated for the convenience and pleasure of the community.

We're sure there are lots of logical arguments for the kind of consolidation commissioners are now proposing. We know county leaders want to do the best they can with the money they have, and that they believe building one shared library for Jackson County citizens and Southwestern Community College students to share will be best for everyone.

But this time they're wrong. Because a library is one of those places where logic doesn't always work. It's a place of wonder and enchantment, where a book can transport you halfway around the world or centuries into the past. Libraries foster emotional attachments, just as schools do.

A public library and a college library have different missions, and we see inevitable conflicts down the road concerning which group's needs come first. What happens to the community aspect if SCC's future leadership doesn't support the community's presence on campus? SCC needs a facility geared toward study and research, while the community needs a place for all ages to gather - even children too young to understand the need for absolute quiet.

While parking downtown can be problematic, the library's contribution to Sylva's quality of life more than compensates. Leaders of both the town of Sylva and Sylva Partners in Renewal, the downtown revitalization organization, agree that the library's presence is essential for Sylva's continued vitality.

Members of the town board last week passed a resolution urging commissioners to keep the library in Sylva's central business district, calling it "essential to the viability of downtown revitalization." The resolution also states the town board's commitment to assist commissioners in securing a downtown location for a library.

Sylva officials termed the public library "an economic stimulus to the town that will continue to benefit both town and county residents."

During Tuesday's joint meeting of county commissioners and town boards, Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver pointed to a group of some 20 people who attended to support a downtown library and told commissioners that group wanted to help and not to fight.

We're with her on that. A community library, a place where many diverse groups are welcome, should be a source of unification and not conflict.

Let's all work together toward finding the solution that will keep our county library downtown where it belongs.

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