
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 20, 1995                   TAG: 9510200043
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BEDFORD

IN BEDFORD County, there's no telling how many people now have home computers and are regularly cruising around the Internet in search of information, entertainment, a good read. But this much is known:

More than half of the county's approximate 52,000 residents regularly go to a Bedford public library in search of same, and the library system has fallen hopelessly behind in ability to serve the county's rapidly growing population.

The system's four branches have a space crunch. They total less than 4,000 square feet; state guidelines for such facilities, based on population, call for 32,000. The system is dreadfully low on chairs for library users - providing 31 when guidelines call for at least 156. It's also short on books, offering 90,000 when its stacks should offer at least 116,000.

County voters can close this deficit by voting approval on Nov. 7 of a $7.1 million bond issue for county libraries. Approval would not mean a tax increase. It would mean that new library branches can be built in the growth areas of Forest, Moneta-Smith Mountain Lake, Stewartsville and Montvale, and that the existing Big Island branch can be expanded.

A new central library that opened this summer was paid for by a Bedford city bond issue. The city and county share operating costs of public libraries but each jurisdiction is responsible for providing its own facilities. Approval of this bond issue would ensure that adequate facilities are more accessible to county residents in areas where they live. The funding will also provide for enhanced library automation and additional books.

We don't know about home computers, but we do know Bedford has a lot of trees. In this political season, many candidates' campaign signs are hanging on those trees. Just remember that Bedford trees are also good for hanging hammocks, and hammocks are good for reading books. However else they vote on Nov. 7, county voters should vote yes for libraries and books.

by CNB