Peninsula Community Library opened in 1957 with a collection of 700 mostly borrowed books.  Today, we house a collection of almost 35,000 items.  Last year, we checked out 49,166 items.  Last year, we educated, entertained and informed 3159 people at 133 programs.  Last year, estimated visits to our small rural library were 29,692.  We did all this on a budget of under $200,000 with a full-time staff equivalent of only 3.1 people.  Among my usual administrative duties, a recent day at the library included assisting a retired business man maneuver through an online Medicare form, listening to a teen whose friend had recently died in an automobile accident, pulling books for a homeschool parent, taking photos of an older patron all dressed up for an event who wanted to send a photo to her daughter and had no one else to snap it, and helping a non-English speaking mother print a coupon from the computer with only her three year old to translate.  I have  a great staff, wonderful volunteers and a dynamic, supportive board.  I love my job.  I love the books, movies and music.  But most of all I love the people.  Because a library is about people.  I heard somewhere that 5 times more people visit U.S. libraries each year than attend professional and college sports games combined.  We live in difficult economic times.  While library use has skyrocketed, funding through traditional sources has plummeted.  Our little library is fortunate to be a part of a community that supports its library, both financially and otherwise.  Financial support keeps the doors open, materials on the shelves, programs going and people employed.  I hope you will consider a gift of financial support to your library.  At the same time, I believe that one of the best things you can do to support your library is to use it.  That small plastic library card opens doors at your library.  That card and everything you can do with it at Peninsula Community Library and most libraries is always free!