LET’S TALK ABOUT IT…
Proper Place for Pride?

What is the purpose of a community library? Are they simply places for citizens to access books and other forms of media, or should libraries properly be concerned with promoting political agendas?

Local children have been enjoying the Poudre Libraries Summer Reading Programs for decades. As soon as school was out for the summer, young kids would pour into the library and head straight for the Summer Reading Challenge table in the children’s section, where a smiling librarian would provide them a little stamp booklet to record their reading, explain that the kids would receive prizes for completing reading challenges and then the kids would wander off—eager to load themselves up with piles of new books filled with loveable characters, adventurous stories, and fascinating facts.

We were surprised to learn that the Poudre Libraries has drastically changed the time-honored children’s reading program. The cherished Summer Reading Challenge is now the Summer Adventure and instead of focusing on encouraging children to read, the library’s summer program now builds on things such as “life skills” and has been expanded from being targeted to young children to include older teenagers and even adults.

We were even more surprised to learn that the publicly funded Poudre Libraries celebrating the kick-off of their 2024 summer program for children starting from birth with a Dolly Parton-themed event at an offsite location (the Lyric cinema) which featured reading with “Dolly drag performers”.