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I haven't fully digested the article but just the title makes me sad and mad.
The first thing I do when I move to a new location is get a library card.
I love library's and the reason I found this was I was looking for some sort of
state or city rating for libraries as one of things that would be important to
me in a retirement location.
I agree with this. Last year, the state legislature wanted to freeze funding for libraries. I gave statistics of how many veterans in our state use the Talking Book library which is funded partially with stae funds, and magically, the issue was moot. No one in this state wants to be known for cutting any veteran benefits.
When the economy sours tax reciepts dry up along with funding for libraries, which is too bad as libraries are inundated with job seekers looking for any resource they can get their hands on. It's been a rugged couple years for libraries, just like everyone else.
As a former librarian . . . here's how it has worked for years:
Every budget season:
People who want taxes to be cut suggest slashing governmental budgets at city, county and state levels.
Then, people who do not want taxes to be cut USE public library cuts as a scare tactic. "If we don't raise taxes, library hours will be slashed or our library will be closed!"
People who use libraries then say "Don't close our libraries, we'll accept a small raise in taxes!"
The result - taxes are increased, other departments get a little more money, and the library budgets are cut anyway.
The problem since the late 1990s has been that with the increased usage of PCs and now tablets, the educated people who vote are using public libraries less - and supporting them less.
The correlation is that since the late 1990s, the poor who can't afford their own PCs are using public libraries considerably MORE. But the statistics kept by the state barely record this type of use - there isn't anywhere on the (online) forms to fill out: # of children who hang out after school. # of people who shelter from bad weather. # of people lined up for computer time who don't get it because there aren't enough computers.
And the poor aren't generally the people who campaign or vote much. So the scare tactic of the potential closure of public libraries doesn't work so well with the voting public anymore.
So in many places, public libraries are losing hours or closing. The PC/tablet owning class says "oh, too bad, it's so sad", and downloads more from Amazon. And the poor are left with no place for their children to go after school, and no way to access employment websites, and no way to file their taxes online, and nowhere to get out of the cold/rain/heat/snow. And, is that the purpose of public libraries anyway?
As a former librarian . . . here's how it has worked for years:
Every budget season:
People who want taxes to be cut suggest slashing governmental budgets at city, county and state levels.
Then, people who do not want taxes to be cut USE public library cuts as a scare tactic. "If we don't raise taxes, library hours will be slashed or our library will be closed!"
People who use libraries then say "Don't close our libraries, we'll accept a small raise in taxes!"
The result - taxes are increased, other departments get a little more money, and the library budgets are cut anyway.
The problem since the late 1990s has been that with the increased usage of PCs and now tablets, the educated people who vote are using public libraries less - and supporting them less.
The correlation is that since the late 1990s, the poor who can't afford their own PCs are using public libraries considerably MORE. But the statistics kept by the state barely record this type of use - there isn't anywhere on the (online) forms to fill out: # of children who hang out after school. # of people who shelter from bad weather. # of people lined up for computer time who don't get it because there aren't enough computers.
And the poor aren't generally the people who campaign or vote much. So the scare tactic of the potential closure of public libraries doesn't work so well with the voting public anymore.
So in many places, public libraries are losing hours or closing. The PC/tablet owning class says "oh, too bad, it's so sad", and downloads more from Amazon. And the poor are left with no place for their children to go after school, and no way to access employment websites, and no way to file their taxes online, and nowhere to get out of the cold/rain/heat/snow. And, is that the purpose of public libraries anyway?
Ech. It's all so depressing on so many levels.
This is an interesting viewpoint. One thing I noticed is the majority of librarians are white, middle class women. Even when I go to neighborhoods where blacks and Latinos dominate it's always white, middle class women. Or when I go to poor white neighborhoods it's the same. It's strange how libraries say they are providing a need to the poor public but aren't accepting of the poor as workers there.
After 25 years of right wing talk radio screaming that libraries are "socialism!" this sadly does not surprise me.
The free market capitalist radicals need to be pinned down on this issue.
Oh, we have a free market and people can buy books on Amazon. Never mind that poor people dont have money (not to mention the means) to buy books on line. Never mind that we have a very long tradition of shared resources in the form of public education, to to mention public libraries. Heck, Ray Bradbury became the writer he was in no small part to the public libraries.
The free market capitalist ideologues conveniently overlook that poor people use the libraries for computer access to find jobs, or just to keep in touch. This is a Bad Thing?
It's strange how libraries say they are providing a need to the poor public but aren't accepting of the poor as workers there.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard/read. Of COURSE public libraries hire locally for the unskilled jobs. Libraries are desperate to involve the local community. Take a look at the pages, circ clerks, guards, etc. And take a look at the Boards, which are the "bosses" of libraries - they HAVE TO represent the local community.
Also, The ALA provides special full scholarships to Library Schools for people of "unrepresented populations" - a young local woman I HIRED as a cataloging assistant (low income family, mixed race) just got one of these scholarships. And YAY, now she's been accepted to one of the best library schools in the country! AND she'll be getting her degree on-line so it's even more affordable.
The issue is - Libraries face the same issues as schools when it comes to the populations they serve.
Who reads in America now? All surveys say - middle class White women are the primary readers in our country. Librarians work very very hard to provide services and materials that will inspire others to be information consumers. And the fact that this sometimes seems to be a losing battle really has less to do with race than it does with gender, age and class. Thank God for the rare and special individuals who, no matter what their background, love to learn - they are the ones who make our lives worthwhile.
Another major factor is that Library work pays badly. So people who have the oomph to try to move out of poorer circumstances might not choose it as a permanent occupation. And the computer specialists in libraries also get paid badly. If you have a choice between a high paying IT job in business or a "technology specialist" job in a public library, which are you going to pick?
Did you note that you don't see a lot of men working in the libraries?
I don't listen to talk radio so I cant comment,but is this hyperbole or have the talkers really been saying this ???
These days, I only listen to the right wing radio nuts sporadically, but back in the '90s I listened to Limbaugh daily. Back before he took himself seriously. Back when he was still a nut, but at least a good-natured entertaining nut. Before he got mean.
And yeah, it's a common refrain. The radical Right doesn't want the government to do anything for the common good --- except occasionally bomb brown people in other countries. And if they could find a way to privatize the military, they'd do that too.
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