Fwd: Proposed New Library

[Angie Boyter]

 I will be testifying about this.

BAD LIBRARY PLANS FOR HOWARD COUNTY

The Howard County Council is considering a bill to build a new library on the lake in Columbia. Despite my motto of "Books, cats: life is good" I am opposed to this project. Please write the council to tell them we need places like the open area around Lake Kittamaqundi as much as we need a new library and that there are other ways to expand the library facilities.

I am an AVID reader and a former president of the Friends of the Howard County library. I have been a fan of public libraries since my mother introduced me to Enoch Pratt Free Library when I was about 5 years old. However, I am AGAINST the proposed library on the lake in downtown Columbia.

I have lived in Ellicott City since 1967 and have watched the growth of Columbia since its inception. Our New Town is a great asset to the county, and one of its most outstanding features is Lake Kittamaqundi. The lake area serves a large selection of people from all over the county and elsewhere for a very wide variety of activities. We need more open public amenities like this and should absolutely not reduce access by building a library. Jim Rouse would be aghast!!

If we want to improve library services, we should take the money proposed for this new site and invest in more ebooks to serve modern readers. Our collection of ebooks is disgracefully small, MUCH smaller than Baltimore County’s collection. Providing more ebooks would serve a very broad part of the community. Young people use digital devices very heavily and would be more attracted to books if they could read them on their phones or kindles or iPads. However, ebooks are also a real boon to octogenarians like me. First of all, many of us are cutting down on or even eliminating driving, and they eliminate the need to get to the library in person. Second, once we get that ebook, we can enlarge the print!

One of the many things we have enjoyed about Howard County is our excellent library. We need to tell them how important it is to continue to provide us with great library services using modern techniques that will not impinge on our other amenities like the lakefront.

Angie Boyter

[Mike DiFilippo]

Very thoughtful position. I was not inclined to support your position on first blush but your argument has merit and I believe you are advocating a very reasonable rejection of the lakeside building. 

Nicely done.

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[Svend Hovmand]

Angie,

I agree with you. Any nature we can save in Columbia  is important 

Svend

On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 1:17 PM Angie Boyter <angie....@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Angie Boyter]

Send a short message to your councilmember!! You can "steal" my qords if you do not want to start from scratch!

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