When you are an unathletic 9-year-old, summer does not leave you with many options. Either get slow-roasted by the Texas heat, or retreat indoors and embrace your inner iPad kid.
I preferred the latter, until I found the Valley Ranch Summer Reading Program where kids track their reading and earn small prizes just for finishing books.
The library turned into my own little Disneyland. It was a place where the librarians knew my name, there were always new things to discover and words felt more interesting than any game on an iPad.
However, as I got older, I realized not everyone sees libraries with the same sense of magic. In fact, most people don’t even see libraries at all.
(Riya Suresh)
In Coppell, where we pride ourselves on academic excellence and students chase college readiness like an Olympic sport, libraries are still underappreciated.
Growing up in Coppell, a few patterns among students have presented themselves: chasing grades and knowledge that can be quantified on a test. The wisdom in books, history and curiosity going beyond what the curriculum tests often goes unnoticed.
After all, if it’s not padding your college application, why spend time on it? It is no surprise that anything without a clear payoff gets ignored. When we believe the road to success is narrow, places like libraries are easy to dismiss.
Maybe libraries do not sound as aesthetic for studying compared to Starbucks, but they do offer something those places can’t: accessibility. Libraries welcome not just kids who can afford laptops, tutors, or SAT prep books, but everyone. They tell kids, regardless of status, that their curiosity does matter.
Coppell is full of people with busy schedules, but walk into the Cozby Library and Community Commons and you’ll see something different: toddlers at story time, teens studying together, adults learning new skills in workshops. Libraries remind us that learning does not have to be isolating. It can bring people together.
Dallas public libraries are facing over $4.5 million dollars in budget cuts, threatening to close five different branches. With funding decreasing, it’s clear that libraries are one of the first community resources on the chopping block.
On the bright side, making sure your local library isn’t the next is pretty simple. Checking out books, attending programs and studying there reminds the city that residents still value these spaces.
Libraries only disappear when we stop treating them like they are worth saving, so it is time to show up before we miss the last chapter.
Follow @CHSCampusNews on X.
