Visit the American Library Association’s website and you’re in for a rude awakening. The figures are scary.

• Americans spend over 20 times as much on home video games as they do on school library materials for their children.

• School libraries spend an average of $12.06 per student on library media, which is about two-thirds the cost of a single fiction title

• The average copyright year for health and medicine titles in school libraries is 1995, meaning students using these resources would not learn about mad cow disease or the cloning of Dolly the sheep.

The list goes on.

But before you say that libraries are a thing of the past; that the city should save money by closing them and Rhode Islanders are no longer turning to libraries for their literary needs, here are a few more facts from the ALA:

• Students make 1.5 billion visits to school library media centers during the school year

• There are more public libraries than McDonald’s in the U.S., with a total of 16,604 branches

• Americans go to school, public and academic libraries nearly three times more often than they go to the movies

And the crown jewel? A 2010 poll showed that 96 percent of respondents felt public libraries play an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed.

In other words, they’re not obsolete. Just as Ed Garcia, the new Library Director for Cranston. Last year, Cranston Public Libraries circulated 1.1 million items, making it the most active system in the state and one of the top 10 library systems in New England. That’s something to be proud of, and Cranston residents should be glad to know that someone like Ed is running the shop. With his extensive knowledge of technology and a thirst for learning, Ed is the quintessential student. He never stops asking questions and looking to improve himself and his library, and that’s a quality to be both admired and sought after when you’re bringing a “dying medium” back to life.

What many people don’t know is that the library offers many resources beyond the next bestseller. For unemployed Cranston residents, they offer job search classes and resume help. For students whose families cannot afford Internet access, they offer WiFi and computers to do research on. And even for those paperback traitors who would prefer to use an eReader, the library is the place to go to check out books and learn more about what your Kindle can do.

Plus, if you’re the old fashioned type, they’ve still got story time, stacks of books to check out and a cozy chair with your name on it.

It’s good to see that the Cranston libraries are thriving, and even better to know that they’re in good hands.