This week, the Greenville-Butler County Public Library joins libraries in schools, campuses and communities nationwide in celebrating National Library Week (April 14-20), a time to highlight the value of libraries, librarians and library workers.

Our country is made up of individual communities, each with its own needs that can be as unique as the communities themselves.  In the middle on all of these challenges, often in the very heart of our community, is a solution, a trusted institution that makes it its business to understand our needs: the library.

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other resources. Libraries are deeply committed to the places where their patrons live, work and study. Libraries are trusted places where everyone in the community can gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich and shape the community and address local issues. Whether through offering e-books and technology classes, summer reading programs, programs for job seekers or those to support early literacy, librarians listen to the community they serve, and they respond.

Service to the community has always been the focus of the library. While this aspect has never changed, libraries have grown and evolved in how they provide for the needs of every member of their community.

It is a time to remember that needs of our community matter to one of our most important institutions: our library.

We encourage everyone to visit the Greenville-Butler County Public Library and take advantage of this great community resource.