Been to Your Local Library Lately?
/“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”
Our local Clark County Library Photo credit: Clark County Library website
Have you visited your local library lately? We absolutely love the Clark County Library. I don’t know what we’d do without it. We don’t go as often as we used to… because we don’t have to. We rarely buy books anymore, but we definitely read a lot. No matter where we are, we have our local Clark County Library with us. We have the free Libby app on our iPads, which allows us to download and read books from our library whenever and wherever we want. Once they’re downloaded, we can read them offline. On Route 66? Sure! On a plane? Yup! While we were in Portugal on the Camino? Absolutely! It’s free and available 24x7x365. How awesome is that?
Though we don’t visit the library to borrow books very often, we still visit, but now for reasons other than borrowing books. We recently attended a concert by Amelia Day at the library. It was part of a free summer concert series offered. We also attended a free play, ‘What the Constitution Means to Me,’ recently, and we’ve attended several free Las Vegas Brass Band Concerts in the library’s Performing Arts Auditorium over the past year.
Libraries aren’t just about books anymore. Our library states its mission as fostering literacy, learning, and community connection. We feel it does an excellent job of attaining its goals. It serves 2.1 million people. We’re always amazed at all of the programs that are offered for all people of all ages at the library.
Photo credit: Clark County Library website
Books and audiobooks, movies, magazines, plays, and concerts are just a small fraction of programs on offer. Here’s a sample:
Kids cafe offers free meals for kids and teens
English as a Second Language courses
Citizenship classes
Chess clubs, book clubs, film clubs
Trivia nights
Author ‘meet and greets’
Lectures
Comic books
Art exhibits and galleries
Music downloads
Adult literacy classes and GED classes
Lunch socials for seniors
Podcasting classes
LEGO and crafting projects
Vinyl listening sessions
Additionally, it offers study rooms, conference rooms, free Wi-Fi, computer access, and, because of our soaring summer temperatures, our library even operates as a cooling center for those who need relief from the heat.
According to the library’s website, “The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District operates as an independent government agency and is not part of the Las Vegas city government nor the Clark County government. It is funded through a combination of government sources, public contributions, and other revenue streams.”
Clark County contributes ~3.3% of its property taxes to the library system. For our household, that amounts to about $67/year. Now that’s a bargain! We pay a heck of a lot more for Netflix, and the library provides lots more value for the buck. Other funding is generated from public fees, donations, and other income, including endowments as well as federal and state grants which support technology, specific programs, and community services.
I was interested in what companies donate to the library. Wish there were more!
A little library trivia for you.
The first libraries appeared around 3200–2500 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia, consisting of organized collections of clay tablets.
As of June 2026, there are 19,255 public libraries in the United States.
The Franklin Public Library in Massachusetts, founded in 1790, is widely recognized as the oldest free public library in the United States and is still in operation today.
The first tax-supported public library in the U.S. is the Peterborough Town Library, founded in 1833 in New Hampshire.
The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is the largest library in the United States, holding over 167 million items.
So if you’re looking for a cool place to visit this summer or a warm place in the winter, or you want to immerse yourself in another world while sitting in your easy chair, or experience something new in your community, check out your local library. It’s free and absolutely wonderful!