Save Your Library!

For awhile, reading Publishers Lunch everyday was like a constantly updated Who’s Who of small bookstores that were closing their doors due to the economy’s gentle slide downhill. Now that the economy is considered to be officially on the downhill slide, reading Publishers Lunch has become like reading a Who’s Who of library budget cuts.

It bothers me when libraries get cut. Especially with the increasing cost of books, the increasing demand for technology and technology upgrades, increase in staff costs, etc. How will they keep up?

Several years ago, working in a school library it became a sad state of affairs. School budgets were being cut and principals were turning to their libraries to pass on the favour. Librarians were given less resources, more work and less time to do it all. It is a proven fact that a school with a well-funded library has better test scores and higher literacy rates. So, as literacy declined, the government entered combat mode and began allocating funds to schools for a literacy program. (Not libraries.) Meanwhile, their libraries would wallow and flounder. Silly people, read your research! After a few years, the money would run out and the literacy program would shut down. Not exactly a long term solution.

Now the cuts are heading into the public domain. For example, in today’s Publishers Lunch, the news is that the governor of New York is proposing that they cut the library budget by 20%. That is a BIG cut. Particularly since “library usage has skyrocketed over the last year as more people turn to libraries for finding jobs, improving their literacy skills and for free reading materials and programs for their families”. (Michael Borges executive director, NY Library Assoc.) P.S. If you are in Albany, NY, join the Rally against the cuts in the Well of the Legislative Office Building  from 1-2:30 pm on Tuesday, November 18th.

What do all these cuts mean? It means less new books (which means less sales for the new authors as well, plus less exposure as the libraries will buy the big name authors and be less likely to spend their money on an unknown or new author), it means older equipment in libraries, less staff to shelve books, research the good books and order them, less services and programs (inter-library loans, research for patrons, children programing, special features) for the public as well as reduced hours open to the public. These are just a few things off the top of my head. What we don’t know is how this is going to affect literacy in communities. For example, in poorer communities, they may even shut down libraries (there has been talk of that already in some areas). So what does this big budget cut spell for those neighbourhoods?

You can’t cut without consequences. We aren’t just cutting a few jobs, we’re lowering literacy (and making it harder for a new writer to break out). Wow. Do you think the governor would think twice if he knew that?