I learned how to read and how to think in the public library. If free access to books hadn’t been available, I would have had little access at all.

This is a time of hardship for so many of us. There have been brutal cuts to library funding… and more and more reading is done on screen, not on paper. My e-books are all priced at $3.99, but I realize that for many people that amount (or less) is dinner.

So, to help keep people from having to choose between eating and reading, I’ll...