How do I stay motivated when people question if my work matters?

You love this work, and you are worn down by shrinking budgets and the steady drip of people asking whether libraries even matter anymore. That question wounds because you already know the answer, and having to keep defending something so plainly good is exhausting. The people who ask usually picture only shelves of books. They do not see what you actually provide: a safe place, open to everyone, that asks nothing to enter. Access to knowledge, help, warmth, and dignity for people who have nowhere else. You do not have to win the argument in your own heart. You already know the worth of what you protect. Where it helps, though, tell the story in numbers and faces the doubters cannot wave away: who walked in, who you helped, what would vanish if the doors closed. And protect your own heart from the constant defending. Keep close the moments that remind you why this matters, the person you helped who had no one else. Let those, not the budget meetings, be the measure of your work.