How to Govern in a Recession – Without Public Libraries

Marlene Pelyhes writes “Have you heard of the Development Report Card for the States (DRC)? Well, if you haven’t that is not surprising, it appears to me that they have not had much input from public libraries.

The non-profit, non-partisan Washington DC based think tank, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CED) , summarizes economic benchmarks for each state, advising policymakers to make wise informed budget decisions as they grapple with record deficits.
The research method is impressive, inclusion of measures is rationalized and the sources of data are well scrutinized, but libraries are ignored.

Marlene Pelyhes writes “Have you heard of the Development Report Card for the States (DRC)? Well, if you haven’t that is not surprising, it appears to me that they have not had much input from public libraries.

The non-profit, non-partisan Washington DC based think tank, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CED) , summarizes economic benchmarks for each state, advising policymakers to make wise informed budget decisions as they grapple with record deficits.
The research method is impressive, inclusion of measures is rationalized and the sources of data are well scrutinized, but libraries are ignored.

According to their press release (Dec 2002), the 16th annual report card demonstrates that the states faring better in the recession are ones that sustain “long-term investments in economic fundamentals, such as a skilled workforce, technological capacities, and quality amenities.”

Seventy-one measures grouped into three indexes, Performance, Business Vitality, and Development Capacity, provide a big picture of how well a state is coping with the recession. The report is user friendly.
Development Capacity, index 3, is described by the question: What is the state’s capacity for future development? To answer this question, a subindex, Amenity Resources Grades, combine measures that can be used in assessing the quality of life and the sustainability of natural resources for the people in the state. There is a rationale for each measure included, for example the measure Shortage of Health Professionals, is included in this subindex with the rational that an ample availability of health services leads to a better quality of life for the people living in the state.

If this “quality of life” talk sounds like typical PL vision statement mumbo jumbo to you, we’re on the same track! Would you agree that effective public library systems, with marked success in improving the quality of the lives of the people of a community, should be accounted for somewhere in the state report card?
When I telephoned the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a live person answered the phone and was agreeable to the suggestion of adding a public library factor, such as the number of people using the libraries, as an amenity measure of their quality of life. What is the next step in insuring that states that support effective public libraries get credit in next year’s report – operating on the assumption that one phone call from a newbie librarian isn’t going to be enough?

Why is this important?

You see, I stumbled upon the DRC report card in an attempt to understand Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Rendell’s rational for cutting 50% of the state dollars available to public libraries for improvement of services. He cited the DRC report card for Pennsylvania as demonstrative of the state’s failing employment rate . The DRC reports that states with excellent overall grades, have made long term investments in education. This is supportive of his recommendation for a $560 million dollar early childhood education initiative.

There was a well timed regional study, supporting the notion that Pennsylvania public library children reading programs have a positive effect on kids literacy levels. But with state dollars for public libraries not factored into the big picture, he decided to raid the PL “improvement of libraries services” fund. The name of the line item implies the funding is just for extras and the state library supports that notion with the report that on average state funding contributes only 16%-18% of each public libraries overall budget. However, newspaper articles report severe cuts in services at Butler County Federated Library System, Tunkhannock Public Library and New Castle Public Library where the libraries rely on state funding for respectively, 32%, 38% and 54% of their funding. (overview article on cuts) . I do not question the state library’s numbers, this is just demonstrative of averaging not showing the whole picture (excel spreadsheet) .

By some accounts, Rendell had a March deadline and churned out a bare bones budget to showcase the drastic cuts that would be needed if the GOP did not approve his increase in taxes, given his projections for decreased state revenue income. Without further debate, the legislators passed the budget in March, called for a summer recess and left the libraries collecting half their expected funding in July. (along with a myriad of other education and social services) . The legislative session started this week. There is a lot of discord on both sides, but hopefully the library, social service and education funding will be reinstated in time for the January checks to be in the mail.”