They are looking to close the libraries around here so that we will have 3 branches to service a city of 300,000.  People who are poor need libraries! They use them to look for work and to become educated! I would rather have libraries than concern myself with paying $4500 to destroy someone's old car while I put them into debt.

I know Becca is around here and we may have other librarians. How many people can the average branch service? We will be going from 7 branches to 3.

that is FECKING BULLSHIT. is this a state decision, municipal one, or federal? 

We ain't seen nothing yet:

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's debt-ridden Jefferson County laid off about two-thirds of its 3,600 employees on Monday because of plummeting revenues, a move that will sharply curtail services in areas ranging from roads to courthouses..."

Depends on the size of the branch, but I would have said that even 7 would barely be enough for that size population.  My parish has ten branches for a total population of 206,000, but some of those are pretty tiny; five is probably the minimum we could get away with.

In Louisiana our issue is not so much branch closings as lack of access to electronic resources: a lot of our subscription databases were provided statewide by the state library, and several of them have just been dropped for budgetary reasons.  This is worse than it sounds, because the school systems have also lost access to things like Facts on File and World Book Online--the Department of Education dropped them for the schools thinking the students could still use them at the public libraries, but now the libraries don't have them either.

Politicians tend not to think of libraries as "essential services."  It drives librarians crazy.  Tell that to the people who don't have a computer at home but can only file for unemployment online, or the people who need a study guide for a certification exam.

The governor of Ohio recently proposed a 50% cut in library funding there: http://saveohiolibraries.com/

I could not have learned astrology without the library and as a matter fact borrow from them on a weekly basis and have since I was er... born?

What can we do to stop this?

Convince your gov't to quit throwing money down the toilet? 

Go back to practices that made this country prosperous in the first place, that allowed us fantastic things like the library?

I figure once they close 3 of 7, they will close 7 of 7, eventually. Very simple.  NO MONEY.

When you live in the 3rd world, only the privileged have access to education and the privileged are very, VERY few.

Sickening.

Keep everyone as dumb and pliable as possible. (Says my inner cynic.)

Your Personal ROI 54.11

For every $1.00 in taxes you spend on your library, you receive $54.11 of value in return*

This is from the calculator, based on how much I borrow

arrrrg. I love the library.

Yep, not essential services, hardee feckin har. Like Jilly sez, keep us stupid, herdable sheep. Bahhhhh, bahhhh. Shear me.

not to mince words but holy fucking shit! Closing libraries freak me out!

I follow my community's library on Twitter (we only have 1).  They report major increases in items being check out every month.  Because of my long commute, I check-out books on CD all the time and I am always amazed at how many people are in the library every time I walk in.  Between those checking out books, music and DVD's there are a lot of activities that the library hosts every day.  It has become quite the needed social stimulus for our community.

I used to work in a library too... I can't imagine a community functioning without one, and as a person who has worked hard and continues to work hard to be where she's at, I can't imagine leveraging yourself into better circumstances without this resource. I've had to buy a few books lately, because I'm away from home, and let me tell you... That price tag slows me down!

The whole purpose of our shock here is, I think, disappointment at such misplaced priorities.

Libraries are the last thing that should go.

Well, Denver libraries are closing / cutting more services too. They are having us vote...

Have libraries open 3 days a week?

Close and sell 7 branches?

Combination of those?

Public libraries as we have been so fortunate to enjoy them in our lifetimes are absolutely going to be a thing of the past and sooner than you think at the rate we're going.

Those options I listed up there? Non-negotiable for 2010 which is of course right around the corner.

I'm sorry to hear that. :(

Me too but you're next. 

Maybe we'll still have a library but with a line around the block waiting to get in? 

Maybe it'll be like before, only the rich have (private) libraries, are educated. :(

My 9th house Uranus says F that haha.

Maybe because my city only has 1 library is why it isn't being cut. I don't know how it's "making" money.  It must be taxes.  I can only imagine that my city hasn't yet put the library up on the chopping block.  I'm sure that the library has made cuts somewhere, but it is really a vibrant hub right now.  I would be beside myself if it was truly cut.  I have a long commute to and from work and use the library to check out books on CD so I don't have to listen to the radio.

Elsa, is that vote for real? That is really sad :( When they cut away they almost NEVER build back up when the economy recovers.

If people want to do something, I would speak with a librarian and ask how you could be involved in any advocacy/campaigning for libraries. Organize an advocacy/volunteer/fundraising group. Other cities/communities have done this. Document the positive impact library programming has had in the area. No wishy washy stuff - real concrete statements and evidence. Work the stats. Contact local politicians. Make libraries (and other public services) a political issue. Learn to speak using the terms and diction that the people w/money and power speak. Or make sure your librarian is very fluent in that kind of language!

Yes it is for real.

Denver library

http://denverlibrary.org/

Then click service reductions

http://denverlibrary.org/news/dplnews/budget_survey.html

at the bottom of that page is a link to the survey and it is STARK. (I can't provide a link because I have voted..)

Denver library

I have been to the library pretty much once a week since I was born...

I'm so sorry to hear that. I love libraries! And they're important too. In my country (Netherlands) the public sector is not hit that badly because of the recession, and it's mainly because we pay a lot more taxes (35-70 % depending on your income, the higher your income the more you pay). The upside is that public facilities are very good, and for people with very low incomes (like me at the moment) the library is free. The rich pay for the poor, which is a political legacy I am very grateful for.

this topic makes my virgo moon hurt and angry.  We watched our city build this new monstrosity "flagship" library downtown and all the branches had services cut.  The architecture of the darned thing is obvious the architect has dick issues because it has a big ole one hanging off the front end of it. So branches got cut/closed to pay for the thing and now it's gotten even worse that the county library system has had to merge with the city to keep the city system afloat.  I am two blocks from the downtown one (the flagship) and go there to pick up books almost ever other day.  I had reqested a book, gotten an email that it was in and walked over there last week.  The book was nowhere to be found.  The very stressed and apologetic woman behind the desk said that there is a couny-wide hiring freeze and they had three full-time staffers quit in the last week.  She said that the books were in and the electronic system was sending out notices but no-one had time to get them out to the shelves.

This is Minneapolis CENTRAL library.  Serves a community of millions.  It makes my heart ache - both for the workers left and the people trying to use the services.

They are shutting down one of the college libraries here. I gather they are just moving the materials and not canning any librarians, so I guess it could be worse. I ran into a librarian I know though and she said they didn't get to argue against it, so they were really pissed off. Oh yeah, and they got told "Well, we let you give feedback!" I was all, "Just because they say they want it doesn't mean they actually mean that."

Oh, I forgot to mention that the town library is getting shut down, moved, and remodeled. It's being moved to the far fringes of town...so so much for me going over there for a year.

mudlikesubstance, I just Googled your library and oh my god that is a plug-ugly building.  The main branch of my system is due to be remodeled starting next year some time, and I really hope our architect is less pretentious than that.

Becca,

yeah, embarrassing, eh.  I hope you get something better.  One of the St. Paul council persons who shall remain unnamed got a Carnegie library torn down and a very plain brick building put in it's place a good 10 years ago.  While the services and space are nice the architecture of the new building is so horrid compared to the beauty that was the Carnegie one. For some reason our local politicians have their heads where the sun doesn't shine when making library decisions.

Wishing your community much better luck and process....

Yeah, Carnegie libraries tend to be a problem because so many of them are that neo-classical style with the columns...and the steps.  It's really hard to retrofit a Carnegie library to be wheelchair accessible and otherwise ADA-compliant.  I used to work in a library system that had turned their beautiful Carnegie building into a storage annex when they built a new main branch a couple of blocks away.  Sad, but at least they preserved the building.

I don't know what I would've done without a network of libraries to go to when my kids were little.  Kids really need libraries.  We just built a new library and the city I live in probably won't let it close.  I'm sure people would riot because it really is the busiest place in town.  I've never seen such a busy library ever, ever, ever.  I have friends who live in Florida where I grew up who have never gone to the library for any reason.  I used to take the kids all the time, check out the maximum books, free movies, etc.  There is always a guest speaker or event at the library. 

I can't help it, but I do walk around the library and borders (where I don't go much any more) thinking about books and whether we'll all someday just be using electronic means. 

 Will books and cars be obsolete soon?

Can't cut and paste but to update on Denver, they are going to further reduce hours, only close on branch. We are talking about the library being open 3 days a week...

virgo says:  eek!

but, well, politicians aren't interested in an educated electorate.  at least,one that chooses for itself what it's going to learn.

seriously.  a big problem and i'm not sure how to work around it.

we have a carnegie library in the town i graduated from.  it's gorgeous.  they ended up tacking on a building twice as big in the back, but at least you can go in to the novels section and sit down in a big armchair and read when the snow's outside.  it really was tiny. thankfully it had a huge back lot.

Looks like the Free Library of Philadelphia may be the next to go: FLP Closing.

I havent read the posts in this thread, nor do I intend to. Its too hard for me.

I am a librarian. And it makes me fucking sick.

I have no passion left, no career left. What I thought was a way for me to make a good living doing something I felt very passionate about has turned into shit.

Cant learn about astrology in a library anymore. Cant get the books.

 My dream is to open up a not-for-profit library where people have free access to all kinds of inspiration: astrology, metaphysics new age, spirituality, religion, occult, esoteric knowledtge all that stuff that you cant find in academic libraries. Sometimes, maybe a really well funded public library. But these are far and few between.

But I guess Ill have to die and reincarnate in 50 years to even get close to something like that happening.

Now you know just one of the reasons why I'm so fucked up.

Man, that word (fuck*) is really working for me today

Gawd. Free Library of Philadelphia?

Benjamin Franklin is going to be haunting the asses of all those politicians who pissed away our tax $$.

Do you know how much fucking money I have had to spend to learn astrology buying books. Its just like Kash was talking about with the cell phone thread.  Its amazon now. The best you can fucking do to read is either hang out at borders all day and read the books and take a bunch of notes or order used books online at amazon. and thats only if you have a credit card and an address they can mail the shit to.

Its all part of the technocracy and basically contributes to people being stupid and not able to even question anything. and like neva pointed out, the protests are so uneven and useless because most of the education people have is from tv, the media.  

If freakin pisses me off. and most people I know that pay taxes and therefore support the libraries, they say "I would never go there, have you been there lately, its all homeless people, it stinks, and im afraid to even set foot there". huh. WTF.

oh, man , i should just take my xanax and turn off my computer.

FLP update: the Pennsylvania state legislature approved a budget, so the library will not have to close.  Their blog thanks their patrons for the 2,000+ letters and uncounted phone calls and emails to legislators in support of the library.

@Chamirose, where are you working? I'm sure you probably already know but there are good advocacy toolkits available for librarians online w/an American or Canadian focus. You know what they say... Don't get angry, get organized!

@Becca, that's great news!

Reported about Denver last time. Here are the budget cuts for suburb, Aurora.

"The Aurora city manager’s proposed budget for next year would implement a wide range of cuts to the city’s expenditures, including the elimination of about 140 positions from the city, including 59 that are filled, and cut millions of dollars from the budget for the city’s Library and Cultural Services Department."