And librarians are now as familiar with terms like CD Rom and Internet as they are with the Dewey decimal system. Moreover, local libraries are no longer insular collections. Through the computerized Nassau and Suffolk library systems, you can locate any item in the collections and either have it sent to your library or be put on a waiting list for it. Other aids available through the cooperative systems include Talking Books and Machines for the blind and visually impaired, and a U.S. Government documents center accessible to the public. So if you need to know anything these days, you can know it quicker, faster and more comprehensively through community libraries, all of which are supported by local taxes.
Every library also offers a range of public programs.
Book discussion groups, lectures and workshops cover a variety of topics. Bulletin boards offer regional day trips. Display racks overflow with community service material. In short, libraries have become treasured resources on the information highway of the future. Like other public operations, libraries have struggled in recent years with pressures for economic restraint.