Text 5134, 131 rader
Skriven 2007-08-14 23:30:52 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070814) for Tue, 2007 Aug 14
===================================================

===========================================================================
Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the Westbank Community Library's Announcement of the
Laura Bush Community Library
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady August 14, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the Westbank Community Library's Announcement of the
Laura Bush Community Library Westbank Community Library Austin, Texas



10:00 A.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Susan. Thank you so much, Beth. I want to
recognize Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst. Thank you, Governor, for
joining us today. James Bannerot, who is the President of the Westbank
Community Library board of trustees; Pat Smith, who is the Executive
Director of the Texas Library Association. Pat does a really terrific job.
The Texas Library Association is the largest of the state library
associations. It's very active. They've always been very supportive of the
Texas Book Festival and of every sort of literacy project in our state. And
I want to thank you very much for that, Pat.

Scott Strehli, who is the Executive Vice President of Texas Research
International, who are the ones that, as Beth already said, donated the new
property, which is going to be terrific. And, of course, Beth Fox. Nothing
would be here if it weren't for Beth Fox. (Applause.)

A great library always has a great library director. And she's the
visionary that really started it all. So thank you very much, Beth, for
everything you've done.

And I want to thank everyone here for this wonderful honor. I can't imagine
anything better than having a library named for me or named for someone.

Libraries have been a part of my life for my whole life, since my mother
first took me to the Midland Public Library when I was a child. Then, the
Midland Public Library was in the basement of the Midland County
Courthouse. And of course, the Midland County Courthouse in the square, the
courthouse square, was the most important building in town. And so the
signal to me, as a little girl, was that the library was in the very center
of the community, and the library was the most important building in
Midland.

And I think that's still what happens, and I want to thank everyone here at
the Westbank Library for making this library be the center of the
community.

So you can imagine how thrilled I am to have a library named for me. I've
loved libraries since those days in Midland. I've loved being a part of
this library, the Westbank Community Library, since our days in Austin,
when George was governor. I'm impressed by how much local residents have
invested in this library since 1983, when a group of 65 determined citizens
began with a collection of donated books. Over the years, foundations,
businesses, individual donors and hard-working volunteers have pitched in.
Now the small community library that started in the upper floor of a bank
building is about to start construction on its second branch.
Congratulations to each and every one of you, and especially to you, Beth.

Every investment you've made in the Westbank Library has paid off.
Circulation has gone from 34,000 checkouts in 1989 a year to more than
600,000 checkouts today. The average item on the Westbank shelves is
borrowed more than seven times a year -- and that average was actually
calculated before Harry Potter was just released. (Laughter.)

This new branch will allow even more people to be able to enjoy the
Westbank Library's excellent resources -- and not just its collection of
60,000 books, which we expect to double with the opening of the new branch.
But as one local family explains, the library is "the warm and comfortable
heart of our community." The library is visited by more than 250,000 people
every year, and it's served by more than 100 volunteers every week. Seventy
percent of families in the Westbank Community Library District have an
active library card. And I expect that that is a record, probably, in the
United States. That's really terrific.

It's a central gathering place for people of all ages. As one 11-year-old
patron observed: "I noticed a gray-haired senior citizen volunteering right
alongside a green-haired teenager!" (Laughter.)

Beth Fox and the enthusiastic staff have made Westbank everything a library
should be. The library supports the surrounding community -- including more
than 30 low-income schools -- with donations of books. The library gives
more than 10,000 books every year to the Reach Out and Read Program. Staff
and volunteers are always ready with recommendations -- for parents looking
to get their kids interested in books, or for avid readers looking for the
next great author. From literature contests and discussion groups, to story
time and game time for children, to the "Knit Wits" meetings for crafters,
this library is a vibrant community center. As Beth will tell you, "We miss
'quiet library' by a country mile." (Laughter.)

These efforts are appreciated by Westbank's patrons. One elderly gentleman
who had just lost his wife was convinced by a staff member to volunteer. "I
met a whole new group of friends," this man told a librarian. "You saved my
life." A teenage patron came to the library late one night, just at
closing. "He needed a book for his report due the next day," one Westbank
librarian remembers. "At first I said we were closed and couldn't help him,
but he looked so despondent," she said, "I let him in and we found the
book. He left happy." When the student returned the book, he included a
thank-you note for the librarian, which ended with, "Never stop having a
big heart."

People throughout the district have opened their hearts to add this new
branch of the Westbank Community Library. From retirees to swim teams to
scout troops, everyone supports this effort. Thanks especially to the Texas
Research International for donating this beautiful 10-acre site on
Cuernavaca, where the new, environmentally sustainable Laura Bush Community
Library will be built.

Thanks to each one of you for your dedication to this community, and for
your love for good books. In fact, this reminds me to encourage all of the
book-lovers here to attend the Texas Book Festival, which will take place
at the State Capitol on November 3rd and 4th. And if you just happen to be
in Washington, stop by the National Book Festival on Saturday, September
29th, at the National Mall. And bring your family and friends to these
great events.

I know you'll bring your family and friends to the Laura Bush Community
Library. I'm proud of all the hard work you've done to make this new branch
happen. And I'm honored that the result of this hard work -- the new
Westbank Community Library building branch -- will be named for me.

Thank you all very, very much. (Applause.)

END 10:08 A.M. CDT
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070814.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)