Tulsa, OK

I love to read. However, being poor tends to limit my ability to buy the books that I love so much. There are the occasional yard sale, flea market, or thrift store finds. Unfortunately, you rarely find new books at any of those places.
That’s one of the nicest things about living inTulsa:Libraries. Libraries everywhere, whether rich or poor, new or old, the type of neighborhood doesn’t matter, there is a library in your area. I love that. A genuine love of reading was the best gift my family ever gave me, and I fully intend to pass that love on to my own children.
The Tulsa City-County Library system is an invaluable resource for parents. With school out for summer and children at home and underfoot 24/7, even the most patient and loving parents can reach the “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH” stage in no time. The library provides us with plenty of activities to enjoy with the kids over the summer break.
With activities such as American Indian Storytelling to remind us of native roots, and Mad Science to encourage exploration, the library manages to educate and entertain. Magicians, singers, dancers, a clown, and even a ventriloquist are just a few of the many wonderful people who share their gifts and time to enable our libraries to be the wonderful resource that they are, providing something for everyone. They even manage to produce their own mini Renaissance Faire.
The books alone are worth the trip for me. The children’s collection is great, and we never fail to find at least a dozen books to take home. Tulsa’s city-county library not only has rich collections of reading material, the staff is always friendly and provides excellent service. My favorite, and most frequently used, is the ability to request a book from a location on the far side of town and have it delivered to and held at the location nearest to me.
I only have one issue with the libraries here, and it’s not even their fault really. But, books disappear here. More specifically, “alternative lifestyle” books tend to vanish from library shelves. A librarian here once told me that certain books just have to be removed from their collection because they can’t keep the copies on the shelves. The books are either just taken or they get checked out and never returned. Books on homosexuality, magick, paganism, or anything outside of the christian mainstream just become too expensive to keep replacing. A minor annoyance, true, but still bothersome.
I always have to wonder if the people removing these books from circulation are just thieves or a particularly nasty brand of censors.
I don’t know whether to be sad or scared.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, library, books, children, activities, reading, parents, resource, American Indian, censor