Bad news from Florida where Just as people have less money to buy a new book from Barnes & Noble or a DVD from Best Buy, local libraries also may be strapped for cash.
Property tax cut measures are bleeding libraries while their visitation and circulation numbers stack up, as is customary during economic slowdowns.
Now state legislators are proposing cutting millions more for the institutions. A House budget, approved last week, takes $10 million from this year’s $32 million in state aid to libraries. A Senate proposal slices $2 million.
Where Librarians Buy Materials
I hope the author of this article is not in Library Acquisitions. Librarians who buy books from Barnes & Noble and DVDs from Best Buy deserve to have their budgets cut when most Public, School, and Academic Libraries have negotiated deep discounts from their Book Jobbers.
Yes, I’m biased because I work for one of these companies, but it is difficult for me to feel simpathy for librarians singing the budget blues when I discover that B&N, Amazon, Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart is their primary source for materials. This is no joke, I’ve seen it in practice.
Librarians have a responsibility to support their local communities, and SHOULD patronize their local independent bookstore. By all means, go there FIRST when you’re looking for something in a hurry such as extra copies, replacement copies and special requests. You will build a strong, lasting relationship.
When your library recieves public funding, librarians also have a responsibility to spend this money prudently. The best way to do this is through a library book jobber, whether it’s the company I work for or one of our many competitors. Let us fight each other for your business. You’ll be the winner in the end.
It doesn’t say anything
It doesn’t say anything about the LIBRARIES buying from Barnes & Noble. Reread that first line again: “Just as people have less money to buy a new book from Barnes & Noble or a DVD from Best Buy, local libraries also may be strapped for cash.”
I am torn on this issue
Having been a public librarian, and as a frequent patron to my public library I hate to see them lose funding.
However the state budget is quite thin because home prices have returned to something close to rational thus decreasing ad valorem tax revenues to counties, and the current economic situation has decreased sales and use tax revenues, as well as corporate income tax receipts to the State.
The money must be cut from the budget somewhere, and libraries are but one place to cut. Also on the chopping block are the road rangers, a program that provides tow trucks to remove disabled vehicles, provide traffic control at accident scenes helping the FHP, and reporting drunk drivers they see in the wee horus.
If I had to choose, in this case it would be to keep the road rangers and cut the library budgets. It is all or nothing for the road rangers, but the librarys can survive the lean times. However I will continue volunteering at the library and I may make a bit larger donation this year if this passes.
I like that I am not having my taxes raised, but I wish I were allowed to decide what gets cut.