By William C. Shelton

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Visiting Somerville’s public libraries is one experience that always makes me consider the possibility that my tax dollars are being well spent, even though library expenditures are only 1 percent of the city budget. Paraphrasing Daniel Webster, it is a small government institution, but there are those of us who love it.

So I was alarmed to learn that Somerville’s libraries are at risk of being decertified; and perplexed to learn that the reason for this is a history of inadequate funding.

I grew up believing that a library card was a passport to another world, indeed, to other worlds, galaxies, and universes. The library was a refuge for me from the mean streets of Compton, California and a promise of hope for a better life.

As a child, the library seemed to be a temple of knowledge, a temple with a beacon on top that penetrated the oppressive gloom of ignorance. I naively believed that the answer to every challenge I might encounter was waiting for me somewhere in the stacks. Life disabused me of that comforting conceit, but it did not diminish the value of  libraries’ many gifts.

Through libraries I learned why Marbury vs. Madison was the Supreme Court’s most important decision, how to build a house, which three years Ted Williams batted over .400, how to mix a sidecar (the drink), what ‚Äúle esprit de l’escalier‚Äù means, why the English teacher who I had a crush on said that Shakespeare was the greatest writer in the language, what the ‚ÄúDutch Masters‚Äù did other than sell cigars, which fork to use, what people in Berlin really thought about Ronald Reagan, who put the bop in the bop-she-bop-she-bop, and ten thousand other things.

The Internet age has not diminished the need for libraries, or their effectiveness. The Institute of Museum and Library Services finds that Internet users are 50 percent more likely to visit a public library than non-Internet users. They go there for information that is reliable and trustworthy. Ninety-one percent of those who use libraries’ online databases also visit in person.

And many people do not have easy access to the web. Whenever I go to the Somerville main branch, I see that all of its 19 public access computers are in use.

This is a small example of why libraries are among our most democratic institutions. Knowledge is power, but libraries offer knowledge to the super rich and the homeless alike. They are a community’s commitment to the cultural and intellectual well being of its citizens.

Somerville’s libraries express all of these virtues and more. I’ve never asked for help from a reference librarian who did not make every possible effort to find the answer, and promptly. Last year, Somerville libraries made 378,000 loans. They presented lectures, musical programs, and film series to adults; story hours, puppet shows, magicians, and theatrical performances for kids. But they received a waiver from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

The MBLC is the regulatory body that certifies libraries in a manner similar to the accreditation of colleges and universities. It sets forth requirements regarding the availability of free borrowing privileges to all residents, quality and range of materials, training of staff, and so on. There is also a financial requirement.

Municipalities must increase their library budgets each year by an amount that is at least equal to 2_ percent of the average of their last three annual budgets. This is less than the rate of inflation, which last year was 4.1 percent. Put another way, it is less than the annual cost of interest payments on the bonds required to finance Trum Field’s new locker rooms, retaining wall, and access ramp. Yet unlike library patrons who are pleased with the service they receive, ball players say the playing quality of Trum Field remains deplorable.

When a city does not meet MBLC requirements in a given year, it may receive a waiver. Somerville has received waivers in four of the last five years, and only once before then, in 1990.

When a city accumulates too many waivers, it risks decertification. Decertification cuts off state aid, which in Somerville’s case is about $90,000 per year. Much more serious is loss of inter-library loan privileges. When the town of Medway was decertified, for example, all 40 members of the Minuteman Library Network (Somerville’s network) refused to lend to Medway residents.

Sometimes libraries in neighboring communities make an exception. When Saugus was decertified, Melrose offered to allow Saugus residents to borrow, if they paid $150 per year per individual, or $200 for a family. There were few takers.

Losing these privileges would be particularly hard on Somerville residents, since they use interlibrary loans at an exceptionally high rate. There would be no other way, for example, to meet kids’ summer reading requirements.

Somewhere around the beginning of this decade, we were promised that the moldy and crumbling main branch would receive a multi-million dollar renovation. I understand how economic hard times and sharp cuts in state aid prevented this investment. But it seems to me that we can do a lot better than we are, in light of what our libraries give to this community.

On the bright side, this month the main branch interiors will get some new plaster, paint, and carpet. If you haven’t been there in awhile, come in, admire the changes, and hug a librarian.