When the board of trustees for the Lakewood Library sent out a plea for donations last month to keep the village library operating, the response was fairly dismal.

So, here’s the truth of the matter: Our libraries need your $5. Today your community is asking you to skip the line at Starbucks and drop off $5 in an envelope to your local library. If you can afford $20 or $50 or even $100 or more, send it in. That will be your good deed for the day. You’re taking a moment to think of something greater than yourself, focusing on it, and reacting to it – a process that is in short supply these days.

Libraries are in crisis, not just in the pretty village of Lakewood and in Jamestown, but all over the country. Since 2010, mayors all over the place have been slashing budgets, reducing library employees and cutting operating hours.

Most of us know this, and even though we all enjoy our libraries with their familiar rows of books and their accommodating librarians, we’re complacent. We’re busy. We’re broke. We’ve got other things to worry about.

But one day, you’re going to wake up and your library will be gone.

Just ask the folks in Evanston, Illinois. Their library, which had been open since 1917, recently closed. The people thought the threat of their library closing was an idle one, that surely the local government wouldn’t let that happen, so imagine their surprise when it actually closed. The books were hauled off, the windows were shuttered and the doors were locked.

And don’t think that’s the only library that has closed in this country.

I think it’s unconscionable that our state and local governments have put libraries in the position where they have to send out fundraising appeals to stay open. But hey, if you want to see what a society values, and how evolved it really is, look at where they put their money.

I’ve said it before in past columns: Libraries are essential. They’re just like our public parks and museums – free and non-commercial gathering places for everyone, regardless of income. If you poll 100 people, 91 percent will say that their local library improves their quality of life, but despite this, the system is under threat.

But rather than focusing on their demise, let’s look at solutions to keep our libraries open.

It’s clear that government isn’t going to be much help in this matter, so what every community needs are library angels.

Take the story of Carol Sue Snowden, a librarian at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, who lived frugally and modestly. She drove a used Chevy, lived in a little condominium and didn’t do a whole lot else other than read.

Imagine how surprised everyone was when she died and left the library $1 million.

And then there was the New York woman named Mary Baily, who also lived a quiet, unassuming life. When she died at the age of 88 in Manhattan, she left the New York Public Library system a whopping $10 million.

And, the Bangor, Maine, public library has writer Stephen King to thank for his $3 million donation. Not only is he helping keep the library open, he’s helping to restore it. King has agreed to pay $3 million to overhaul the century-old hometown library, as long as $6 million is raised from other sources.

Or how about the young students from Detroit who set up “outdoor libraries” when several branches of their library system closed? These outdoor libraries are housed in waterproof bookcases and operate on the honor system. People don’t need a library card to use them and there are no late fees.

Beyond the generous gifts and the innovate solutions, there’s more good news: People are rising up and demonstrating in their communities in an effort to save their libraries.

Library cuts in Brooklyn inspired a 24-hour read-in marathon.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper had to recapitulate under pressure from citizens and announce that his city would eliminate $910,000 from budget cuts that would have closed one library branch and reduce the hours of others.

And recently, librarians and community members in Chicago gathered outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office in City Hall for a protest and story time in response to Emanuel’s proposed cuts to library hours and staffing.

In every case I’ve mentioned, it was the people who made a difference, who changed a mind, who implored their local government to come up with the money to keep their library doors open.

So, today I’m asking you to be a library angel.

For the price of a cup of coffee, you’ll earn a pair of wings.