Testimony for
FY07 Operating Budget
Montgomery County Council Public Hearing
05 April 2006
Hi, my name is Paulette Dickerson; I am the Chair of the Chevy Chase Library Advisory Committee. I live in Silver Spring.
Do you remember when you were a kid who read comic books? I do. I read Archie and Friends, Superman, The Fantastic Four, True Love comics that I snitched from my cousin Jackie and a whole series of trashy, graphic, gory and awful vampire and werewolf ones that I got from the local drug store and hid under the bed.
Do you remember the ads in the back? Sea Monkeys? Spider Monkeys? “You can hold it in the palm of your hand” Charles Atlas, the original “ninety-eight pound weakling.” The trade school ads? “If u cn rd ths u cn gt a jb as a scrtry” Remember the “Secrets of the Rosicrucians?” Well I remember that they had ads to develop your mental powers, too.
I never sent away for any of those things but I did spend some time trying to develop my ESP, mostly by putting my fingers against the sides of my forehead like “The Amazing Kreskin” and concentrating on other people’s minds. It didn’t work.
Oddly enough, at the same time I was doing something else that would increase my Extra Sensory Perception-- I was discovering the local library.
It’s a little-known fact that librarians are amongst the only people who can help you to develop those senses and libraries are about the only places in the world dedicated to them.
For example, you don’t need a crystal ball to experience clairvoyance-- the internet can show you real time pictures from all over the world. Anyone can do this at the local library today.
You don’t need occult gestures to increase your mental prowess-- all you need to do is open an encyclopedia or a newspaper. MCPL (Montgomery County Public Libraries) has print ones in the branches and the materials budget of the Library Department supports online access from home to many of the databases.
You don’t need incense, entrails or a “gypsy” fortuneteller to predict the weather either-- just visit NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website. Ask a librarian to show you how.
You don’t even need to say “Abracadabra” to change your world-- just use your library card.
I’m here to ask you to increase library funding for all these things... staff, technical resources, databases, materials and librarians. Let’s throw in a decent amount of money for maintenance, too. And don’t forget those comic books-- though some of them are called graphic novels now.
What do you think? Are you thinking “Yes, let’s do it” ?
I hope so.
Thanks for your time.
Testimony doc file
Paulette Dickerson P.O. Box 598 Kensington, MD. 20895-0598
pdickerson(at)hers.com
http://librariesfriend.com
Private Citizen / Library Advocate
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Comic Book ESP
Montgomery County Family
August Wilson
Taxes
Schools
Free To All
Moonspinners
Founding Fathers
TVLand
Birthday
Magic Wands
Chronic Library Users
Libraries! 24/7!
Book People
Urban Libraries
Library Questions
Neighborhood Libraries
Library Heaven
Friendly Libraries
Tight Times
Budget Cuts
Children's Library
Send comments or suggestions to:
E-Mail: "pdickerson (at) hers.com"
Paper Mail: Paulette Dickerson, P.O.Box 598, Kensington, MD 20895-0598, USA
Home Page: http://librariesfriend.com/