By: A.B. Timothy

I am at a branch of my local Public Library system today, as a writer group that I am a part of meets here. I got here a few hours early so that I could get some editing done on “The Shards of Arthur’s Shield,” my debut fantasy novel set to release in May 2026. I have been passively observing things from my place near a half-wall, where I am set up with my laptop away from the public computers but adjacent to them.

The utter state of this place breaks my heart. To my left is a lounge area that is meant for the public to come and read magazines, drink coffee, and catch up on their TBR. Only one person in the entire area is doing that out of the dozen that I have seen come and go. The rest are homeless people who are lounging about, three sleeping and one splayed out on the floor like it’s his living room carpet. To my right, almost every one of the two dozen computers is being used by people who are clearly homeless, and others who don’t respect it. I used to come to the library when I was a kid and use the computers to play games, so I get that, but if you are in your twenties, have four luggage bags piled next to you and look like you haven’t showered in a week, get your life together, quit playing the game, and learn an employable skill.

Public libraries should be for the public who wish to better themselves or who pay taxes. They should not be open to being abused and loitered at by those who want to take advantage of them.

You have the entire breadth of human knowledge at your fingertips; go do something with that, be something.

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