Don't Close the Book on Libraries
Excellent editorial from yesterday's Boston Globe:
-------
Don't close the book on libraries
By Carol Brey-Casiano and Bernard A. Margolis | January 5, 2005
NEXT WEEK a storied team with more than 64,000 members and millions of loyal fans will gather in Boston to try to lift a "curse" that has been haunting them for decades.
For the American Library Association, the situation is even more haunting than the 86-year "curse of the Bambino." Despite the fact that more people are using libraries than ever before, their funding continues to decrease. More than $80 million has been cut from public library budgets in the past year alone, which has weakened or closed libraries in more than 40 states.
In addition to budgetary issues, about 70 percent of librarians will reach retirement age within the next 20 years. Who will take their place? Librarians don't rake in the multimillion-dollar salaries of major league ball players. They gain their rewards from helping a lonely senior citizen locate family members online, reading a book to a young child, or assisting a mother searching for information on college loans for her children. Eighty percent of librarians report being very satisfied with their career choice.
Librarians truly are the "ultimate search engine," an incredibly knowledgeable human resource far more responsive and interactive than virtual commercial ones. Combine library staff with the services libraries provide -- including free loans of books, music, and videos; free Internet and e-mail service; computer classes; and free adult literacy, GED, and SAT prep classes -- and the value of the public library cannot be overestimated.
Particularly in times of economic uncertainty, more and more Americans rely on the libraries' free resources to research loans, jobs, vital medical knowledge, or small-business opportunities.
Fortunately, the Boston Public Library system supported by Mayor Thomas Menino has weathered the budget cuts now ravaging the nation's public libraries. Boston's public libraries continue to offer weekly lecture series and frequent movie screenings as well as literacy services. The system has added more than 3,500 e-books to its collection, and many buildings have recently undergone extensive renovations. Sunday afternoon service is again a regular offering.
Other Massachusetts libraries aren't faring so well. Sixty-five libraries across the state, from Saugus to Bridgewater, were unable to meet their community funding requirements and were at risk of losing state and federal funding.
What do these budget cuts mean to library patrons around the country? Salinas, Calif., residents will see all three public libraries closed before summer. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library residents rallied to avert a similar fate for their 52 libraries but still lost $2.5 million in county funds. Since 2002, the Denver Public Library has cut one full day of service each week from each library facility, reduced the materials budget by 3 percent, reduced staff by 17 percent, and limited community outreach.
Patrons may not realize how important the library is until they arrive to find the doors shuttered, the computers dark, or the periodicals missing. At that point it will be too late. We must act now to ensure the future of the library, and what better place to declare our commitment than in a city that so recently triumphed against all odds -- and curses? People profess to love libraries. But alas, libraries cannot live on love alone.
Carol Brey-Casiano, director of the El Paso (Texas) Public Library, is the president of the American Library Association. Bernard A. Margolis is the president of the Boston Public Library.
-------
-M!
Fair Use Notice
