Of the many comments today to help local libraries after WC1 failed in the most recent election cycle, sunsetting the 1994 direct allocation of some property tax revenue, Jennifer Flynn’s stood out.
Flynn, a current library assistant at the downtown library, who was briefly unhoused coming out of the pandemic, living in a vehicle, was one of the commenters asking elected County Commissioners to prioritize the library in their upcoming budget decisions.
The library already has an existing $12 million budget but previously relied on the extra, no longer automatic, now expiring $4.5 million or so it got for extra staff, its new book budget and its technology needs.
Here below are Flynn’s comments from earlier today:
“My name is Jennifer Flynn, and I'm a librarian at the Downtown Reno Library. When I got out of high school, I was deciding what I wanted to do with my career.
I told myself my number one goal was to help my community. I started with prelaw, realized I'd be a terrible lawyer. Then went to psychology, realized I'd be a terrible psychiatrist, and then landed on English with the intent to either become a teacher or a writer. The pandemic happened in 2020, and I was unable to continue my bachelor's degree. But I knew I still wanted to help people in any way I could.
I had volunteered at libraries when I was a teen when I lived in Virginia, and I … loved literature, so I set my sights on becoming a librarian. But there was so much more to libraries than literature. In 2022, there was a brief period of time where I was unhoused. I had nowhere to go. I had no job.
I was sleeping in my car or surfing on people's couches. And at that time, I still loved libraries, but I hadn't visited any of my local libraries. And if I had known the resources that they had, granted, would I [have] been housed right away? Probably not, but I would have [had] the resources I needed to get somewhere.
We have community court on Wednesday mornings, that's available. There are lawyers that are there to help people with their disputes. We have the food bank that comes in. They provide food stamps. We have Diane, who is very popular. She hands out free phones for people.
We have book [a] librarian. You can sit with a librarian for an hour. We can help you with your job applications, your resumes, all that sort of stuff. If I had known about these resources, I might not have been living in my car for a couple of months.
I probably would have found a place or at least the resources to start. And I could have enjoyed even the fun things about the library. We have all sorts of crafts, book clubs. We recently did a teen escape room that was a huge hit. And I would have had a place to be, and I could be there 100% for free.
There are so few spaces nowadays that you can just walk into, and you will not be judged, when you do not have to pay.
We are here for every single member of our community whether you agree with what library stand for or not. And so I believe in our libraries with [my] heart and soul. Even if I lose my job, even if I'm no longer a librarian, I will continue to stand for what we fight for. Thank you for your time.”