The first library I used was a bookmobile. I lived at the edge of town and the bookmobile came to our far flung shopping mall.

It stopped by once a week, which worked pretty well for me as a kid, even if it did stick around only for a couple of hours.

Years later, I lived in rural Arizona. There the bookmobile only made it out once a month, and again only for a few hours. That was a little tougher for me -- but it did persuade me to start a local volunteer library, which got me back to library school.

I realize my stance on this isn't especially popular, but I find myself very disturbed by the continuing circus around Ward Churchill. I've talked to some usually very bright people who go on at length about Churchill's ethnicity, his tenure process, and so on.

That is, of course, smokescreen and ad hominem attacks masquerading as argument. The problem is not Churchill's past. it is his unswerving contention that the United States is not a "good guy." Let's talk about the core issue, shall we?

We get a lot of traffic on the library website -- about a million hits a month. And what's the number one destination of all that traffic? What do Douglas County citizens most look at?

Our library catalog. And why not? We have well over 600,000 items in our collection now. It's a huge asset, representing millions of dollars, and covering every conceivable topic.

On March 8, our Parker Library hosted a panel discussion. Our stars were representatives from Denver-area cultural facilities. One speaker ran the Arvada center. One oversaw several mid-sized buildings in Lakewood. And two other speakers operated the adjoined library and cultural center in Broomfield.

It was eye-opening. These people have solved something that has thus far eluded Douglas County: how to open and operate a 500 seat performing arts venue.