Judy Nelson thinks it's important to understand what the community wants for its young people, "which means lots of listening." We need to give taxpayers more good reasons to support libraries, she says, and the community's problems and unmet needs are opportunities for libraries to be an integral part of the solution. One problem Nelson turned into opportunity was that of-at-risk young people in Pierce County's needy urban areas, and the struggling schools and day-care centers that couldn't meet their needs alone. "If the majority of your children are in a child-care setting, or can never get to the public library, maybe you need to take the story time to where the kids are," she says. She did more than that: she came up with the "Explorer bookmobile," a small branch library on wheels that began service in 2003. Designed to bring the total library experience to Pierce County's low-income neighborhoods, and to the school districts where reading scores are the lowest.