In the Seattle Times, columnist Neal Peirce writes that many of the nation’s libraries are able to maintain the bulk of their services and adapt to growing needs during a recession, even in the face of snowballing funding cuts by their local governments.
From the article: Andrew Carnegie’s original idea in founding his string of free public libraries, McNulty notes, was that they’d be gathering places for young people — that once drawn there, they’d learn to read. So Carnegie built a boxing gymnasium into one of his Pittsburgh libraries, a swimming pool into another.
But right now, it’s computer access that leads the library parade. “Beginning computer skills are especially important for dislocated workers,” says Brian Clark of the Nashville, Tenn., Career Advancement Center. “Having computer skills,” he suggests, “won’t necessarily get a person a job. But it means the door won’t be slammed in their face” — in other words, before they can even state their case.
Opening doors? It’s true that funds saved or restored to libraries may mean deeper, sometimes very painful cuts in other parts of city and county budgets.
But what’s more American than open doors? Seen this way, libraries have been enablers of generations of Americans’ dreams. And with a little luck, they’ll help pull us out of our current economic morass too.
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