You're right Peggy.  I haven't seen children anywhere other than the museum.  The younger people using the computers probably don't crack the books in the genealogy area.  Maybe they could be charged a dollar or two, after all, they're using electricity.   I've found that even in a tough economy that people tend to spend their money on what they want to spend it on.  For instance, while I don't smoke I know people who do.  If I had to pay an entrance fee to the library of $2, a pack of cigarettes would give me two trips to the library?  How much is a ticket to Michigan Adventure?  Do you see what I mean?   I feel that tax payers in the state should be "members" of the library but since that isn't how it works-if paying a couple of dollars would save it, I'd pay it.    I don't want to see what we have divided up or boxed and stored not to see the light of day again. Kathy Barnes --- On Sun, 7/26/09, Peggy Youngs <peggy.youngs@gmail.com> wrote: From: Peggy Youngs <peggy.youngs@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [MI-GENEALOGY] Ways to Save the State of Michigan Library To: mi-genealogy@rootsweb.com Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009, 6:08 PM I have to say, in all my visits to the Michigan Historical Complex over the past ten years, the only children I have seen in the building are school groups visiting the Historical Museum. That's not to say that children don't use the library, just that I never see them on the second floor using the collections used by genealogists. I truly don't know if they have a children's section in the library.  I do know that the city of Lansing has its own library, so why have a children's section at the state library?  Any child living more than a few blocks away would need to be brought there by parents or someone who drove them there.  While I do see many MSU students and probably high school students on the second floor, they are always using the computers and I have not seen them using the books or microfilm. I think a library card or some other access charge could be applied for use of the second floor, which contains the Abrams Collection, the city directories, the local and county histories (Michigan Collection), and the newspaper microfilms. In other words, you could say this would be a tax on genealogists.  But if you have people--and I know many--who pay $100/year to use the Burton Collection, why not ask us to pay to use the resources in Lansing?  While I would not be jumping for joy at the prospect of paying, I would do so if it meant keeping the library. While I have the luxury of not having to pay for a library card to use my local library, I am aware that as funding dries up many libraries are having to ask patrons to pay. Peggy ***************************** The theme of this list is Michigan genealogy and research. Please respect others by keeping your postings to this theme. MI-Genealogy Mail List Information http://www.migenweb.net/maillist.html ***************************** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MI-GENEALOGY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message