Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Lucia Herndon is fed up with the city’s neglect of its public libraries:
About 20 libraries will be express libraries – open six afternoons a week, but without master’s-degree-carrying librarians. Many libraries are now delaying opening until afternoon, so their service to not only adult clients but children is curtailed. Since only a fraction of the elementary schools in the city have accredited librarians, some schools had relied on the availability of branch libraries as an education resource …
What does it say about a city that can build a sports stadium in seemingly no time, but has to patch together resources to keep the lights on at libraries?
We should all be ashamed, enough to contact our elected officials, city and state, and tell them how we’d like to see tax money spent. We pay their salaries. They act on our behalf.
A Lone Voice
I applaud Ms. Herndon’s column. She has always been a strong supporter of libraries and the service they perform.I wonder why the Philadelphia Inquirer printed her column yet refuses to print letters from librarian’s protesting the cuts? It would seem that the politicians don’t really care about the issue and the newspaper’s non-printing of letters seems to show that fact. Why is there no protest from ALA,PLA, or any other professional group? What about library schools where are they? If professionals don’t stand up for their own issues, who will? What is happening in Philly will most certainly happen elsewhere and without protest our profession is in real danger of going the way of other porfessions that were deemed not necessary.
Re:A Lone Voice
Don’t expect much from ALA. This is how ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano pathetically responded to a request for help from a Free Library of Philadelphia librarian:
Dear Mr. ______:
Thank you for your letter regarding the Free Library of Philadelphia and my
statements quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer. As a longtime librarian, a
library director and the President of the American Library Association, I am
deeply concerned by threats to our profession and our ability to offer the
highest quality library and information services.
Communities nationwide are being asked to make impossible choices about
whether to close branches, lay off staff, cut programs or eliminate new
materials purchases – or do all of these, as in the recent case of the
Salinas (Calif.) Public Library.
ALA has been working hard to communicate our message about the value of
libraries and librarians and to equip library advocates with the tools they
need to stand up and speak out about our concerns.
Every person in this country deserves free and full access to well-staffed,
well-stocked and well-supported public libraries -regardless of the local
tax base. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers or quick fixes to tight
budgets and structural inequities in how libraries are funded. We must
continue to do everything we can to educate the public and highlight the
value of libraries and librarians.
Sincerely,
Carol Brey-Casiano