Did you know you can use Ancestry.com and expert staff to trace your family tree for free at the library?  

Did you know you can access free legal services offered by Legal Aid Society of Columbus at the library?  

Did you know there are free programs designed for every age, starting from birth on, at the library? 

Well, if you didn’t, I’m here to tell you that these are just a few of the library offerings I was made aware of this week. I learned all of this through my meetings with specialists in the Young Minds program, Local History and Genealogy department, and partnering organization Legal Aid Society of Columbus. Once again, every person I spoke with expressed so much empathy and commitment to their work. I took copious notes of all the ways in which libraries make information more accessible. What struck me was the trust and community-building that CML has built over the course of nearly 150 years. It makes so much positive community work possible, and enables more people to connect with accurate information through trustworthy resources.  

A key part of each meeting was when I asked the specialists what donor funding helps them accomplish. They all had major aspects of their work that would not be possible without donor funded support through the CML Foundation. As a public institution, there is great responsibility in how the library attains and applies funding to serve our community. These interviews reiterated why fundraising is such an important revenue stream for library operations. It allows for the development of a large assortment of really robust programs, and I was happy to hear these added perspectives on the positive impact of the development team’s work.  

Til next week,

Amy