Since the Lewiston City Council has been reviewing and commenting on the proposed city budget, I have been thinking about the importance in our community of both the schools and the library.

Both are offered to all, both welcome many members of our community, both the library and the school system staff bring many talents and skills to support and to encourage students and library patrons.

Libraries focus on literacy along the continuum of paper, lectures, classes and web-based learning. Schools build on many levels of literacy for their students and for their families.

Both systems have been changing to best meet the needs of a changing society, yet both systems, at their core, have supported learning, curiosity, exploration and connection for many years in our community.

Both systems are essential to the well-being of a thriving community and for the ongoing development of literacy across the lifespan.

The staff at both the Lewiston Public Library and the Lewiston school system are incredibly skilled and keenly interested in serving all. The staff members are very creative in exploring all types of programming to encourage learning. The staff members need to know how valued their work in our community is.

Cutting funding for the LPL and reducing library hours does not make sense to me and to many others in the community. I hope the funding is kept intact so that the library can remain open and available to community members.

Eileen Fair, Lewiston