Most of us won’t be able to escape feeling a bit patriotic this July: Canada Day, Stampede Centennial and the Olympics. We will be inundated with Maple Leaf waving, cheering and yahoos. Yes, it is a great time to be Canadian and to reflect on what it means to live in a nation like Canada; to think about the rights and freedoms that are ours because we live here. Recently, my 16 and 11-year-old daughters were “arguing” about what they had learned about rights and freedoms in their respective social classes. My older daughter declared that the only rights the 11 year old had were to have a name and not be kidnapped. “Not so!” rebutted her younger sister, quite certain that her rights were much more extensive. Whatever knowledge we have about our rights and freedoms we need look no further than our local library to understand that we do live in a free society. The very existence of such a place tells us that we are not living under some oppressive dictatorship. Libraries give us unlimited access to information whether it be books, magazines, classes or internet usage. We can pick the brains of the Librarian or look up stuff in reference books. We have the freedom to read whatever we want, whenever we want. To underscore how important these things are to Albertans the provincial government declared back in 1905 when the Library Act was passed that access to libraries would be free for all citizens. Libraries would be permitted to charge only for library cards so that materials leaving the library could be tracked. This holds true today.  Anyone can come in and sit and read a book or magazine, use the internet, get help from the staff or take a class for no cost. There are still many countries around the world where this is not the case.  In some places it is illegal to own a modem – internet access is strictly controlled. Public libraries don’t exist either because financially it is not a priority for the administration or the government wishes to control and censor what is available to the public. We are extremely fortunate to live where we do and to have a resource like our library close at hand. We encourage you to make use of it as often as possible. With our spring programming now at an end we invite you to come in and see what we have lined up for the summer. Along with our summer  reading program for children we have other activities planned for families and teens. Either check out our website: www.sheepriverlibrary.ca or come in and pick up a brochure. Please note that we will be closed June 30 and July 2 for the Canada Day holiday.