510-595-4661
Greens@richmondgreens.net

The Richmond Greens Say:
"Better libraries for Richmond!"

Public libraries are one of the oldest democratic institutions of our nation. An educated public is the foundation of democracy. Public libraries strengthen our communities by providing recreational and educational opportunities to everyone.

The library serves many roles, such as the preschooler's door to learning, a gateway to bridge the "digital divide", providing popular recreational material, and being the people's university of life-long learning.

The library celebrates diversity in its collections and programming. It also plays an important role in protecting freedom of speech.

As Greens, we support the American Library Association's stand on intellectual freedom as embodied by documents such as:

"The Freedom to Read Statement" - http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/freeread.html

"The Library Bill of Rights" - http://www.ala.org/work/freedom/lbr.html#rights
(these are also available in Spanish)

Statement on the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act - http://www.ala.org/washoff/Patriotres.html

On February 25, 2003 the Richmond Greens spoke up (13 RG speakers) at City Council in defense of our Constitution and Bill of Rights and our freedom to read which has been compromised by the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act.

At this moment we became the 48th such community to refute the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act as noted at the web site of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee - http://www.bordc.org.

We salute the good work of the Richmond Public Librarians!

We demand more, better equipped and fully staffed Libraries for Richmond!