Forming: Friends of Cortelyou Library

Dear Ditmas Park friends,

Our local public library is on the corner of Cortelyou and Argyle. Some of you may use it, perhaps often, and all of you probably walk by it.

I have been going there since 1983 when it opened (and, conveniently, when I was born). My mom took me in a stroller, and then holding hands to sit in the orange plastic chairs - which are still there - to read together and max out our library card. It's also where we discovered the ERNEST & CELESTINE books about a poor bear and mouse -- the children's stories dearest to me. Maybe you have your own connection to the place, or public libraries in general.

The Cortelyou branch is a special space -- small, but with a strong selection and access to all the other libraries in the system (you can have any book, CD or DVD delivered there). But little it is, and budget cuts are great.

Lots of libraries in the Brooklyn system have Friends groups, which are advocates of the branch. Ours doesn't have one and I've wanted that to change for some time.

There will be a meeting this Saturday, October 9 at 2 p.m. in the library to get thinking about ways to help keep it alive.

I hope you'll consider coming to at least the first meeting to see what it's all about, and to share some clever ideas, or to just listen and spread the word.

I worry about this library -- it's an important part of the community that serves a population more diverse than perhaps any other neighborhood fixture.

Let's fight for it.