[Editor’s Note: Culver City’s honorary poetess laureate addressed the City Council last evening.] 

Last Friday, our Culver City Julian Dixon Library was officially reopened after a full year of renovation.  It was quite a celebration.

Thanks were given to many by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, including the library staff led by Laura Frakes, the Mayme Clayton Museum & Library, which graciously allowed us to use an Express Library set up at the Museum and the Culver City Friends of the Library.

They deserve a huge thank you for all the work they did to make certain this happened.

Nancy Kuechle and Elaine Hirohama, co- chairs of the Friends of the Library, were in the forefront of the effort.

I am sure they hope to see many of you at The Friends celebration this coming Friday.

Here are a few lines that I hope will remind us how important a library is to a  community.

Library Freedom

Celebrating the reopening of the Culver City Julian Dixon Library.

By Dr. Janet Hoult

The Latin word for “book” is “liber.”

In Latin, the word for “free” is “liberi.”

Close, yet very different,

They are connected in my mind.

Indeed, without our libraries

We would certainly not be free

To read the books we choose

and to learn about humankind.

So thank you for our renovated library

Open once again for our community

Now that it’s officially open,

We are free to see what good books we can find!

Dr. Hoult may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com