This week is National Library Week, which means that celebrities are being asked about their favorite books and librarians are encouraging everyone to read.

It means more than that, however. As Cortez moves toward the expansion of its library, now is a good time to think about what such a facility means to a community.

To begin with, it means that learning doesn’t end at the schoolhouse doors. Preschoolers have access to books, adults have access to the Internet, and information is readily available to all. Students utilize the library for school projects. Parents utilize it to keep up with what their kids are learning.

Beyond that, it means that learning is valued in this community. It means that we’re willing to fund the means to provide it, including not only books and computers but the building in which they’re housed and used.

Think about the unique way a public library does business. There’s no admission charge. Everyone can walk in the door and stay as long as they behave themselves. Even though it’s a city library, no one has to present identification; county residents are welcome too. The books aren’t rented out; all you have to do is present your card and you can take them home. Everyone can afford to use the library, and for good reason: a community benefits when its citizens are literate and informed.

Despite dire predictions that books would soon go the way of the dinosaurs, they’re alive and well. We read for recreation as well as for information. The written word is available in new forms, but whether it’s on a paper page or on a computer screen, itstill the currency of the information age. We need it now, more than ever. It’s tempting to believe that the Internet is a good substitute, and sometimes it is, but not as often as we’d like to think. The library has knowledgeable human helpers; that’s a big step up from the Jeeves the butler on ask.com.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair reads J.R.R. Tolkien to his children; he also likes Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Christina Ricci is reading C.S. Lewis’ "The Chronicles of Narnia." Jeff Foxworthy’s favorite book is the Bible. Jackie Collins likes "The Great Gatsby." Nolan Ryan prefers "Lonesome Dove."

The point is that famous people read, and although they can afford to go to the bookstore and buy the books. The rest of us can read the very same books Tony Blair does, just by walking down to the library and checking them out. Step through the library door and entire worlds are open to you.