From the Reading Eagle, October 28, 2008:
[This is an excerpt from today's article covering the city council's discussions of how to eliminate administrative costs:]
"Council also had some ideas, such as cutting management raises and even possibly closing the Reading Public Library to save $500,000. The city has to cut back to its core services, and the library isn't one of them, several council members said."
(I have emboldened and reddened the text in two areas to indicate the severity of what our city's government--or at least several members of its council--is proposing.)
Clearly I have a vested interest in having the Reading Public Library remain open: this is my place of employment and how I make my living. However challenging the library's closure would be to me personally, my real grievance is how much would be senselessly taken from the community with our library's suppression, even temporarily (and council is not speaking in terms of transience when they mention shuttering Reading Public Library's doors.)
The current economic crisis has caused scores of hardworking citizens to lose their employment. Every day, my colleagues and I encounter men and women who are looking for work, and assist them in navigating the internet for jobs, helping them learn how to draft a resume, or how to connect with local employers. We do it because it is part of our mission to help anyone who comes to us to the best of our ability, and we are happy to do so. We are proud to serve our patrons in whatever manner we are able.
We help students seeking materials to prepare for exams, and others with various academic pursuits, ranging from science fair project development to compiling research papers on a myriad of topics. We perform readers' advisory service, meaning when a patron shares that he or she has just finished a particular book and found it enjoyable but doesn't know what to read next, we are informed professionals who can point them to another title. The blog entries before today's detail books and films we will soon see on the Main Library's shelves: these, and hundreds of thousands of other library holdings, are available to be borrowed---FOR FREE--by anyone with a valid library card.
Apparently city council does not find this eminently noble enterprise to be anything worthwhile. Shame on them.
I am only describing what the professional reference staff does, and at that am hardly sharing an exhaustive list of our department's services. I dare not attempt to list all the benefits of our children's and young adults' departments, who host hundreds of programs annually, reaching out to the youngest in our community in ways no other organization can: through the wonder of the printed word. Our interlibrary loan services guarantee--with hardly any exception--that patrons can request almost any book in the world and have it delivered for them to our library. It is mind-boggling how very dedicated our ILL department is, and I know dozens of our regular patrons who utilize their services regularly.
Our technical services department annually processes thousands of items--well beyond books--including DVDs, music CDs, books on CD, and even toys, all for the edification or enjoyment of the public. The circulation staff not only checks out items to the public, they also shelve (and keep shelving--there's never an end to shelving in the library!) and retrieve items which people have requested to be pulled. We are an organization whose departments are entirely interdependent on one another, but all with one goal in mind and one task at hand:
TO BEST SERVE THE PUBLIC IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
Now imagine this is all swept aside simply because city council is facing a budget crunch.
The injustice of it is staggering, its ramifications deplorable, and yet several council members are hastening the Reading Public Library's termination. In the advent of any library's closure, far more serious consequences than its staff's unemployment shall follow:
It means depriving citizens of all ages and backgrounds access to information and knowledge.
It means denying ways for people to improve themselves.
It means closing the doors of opportunity.
Please contact the mayor's office and the city council and tell them that you do not want the closure of the Reading Public Library to be considered as a viable means of resolving Reading's budget woes.
[This is an excerpt from today's article covering the city council's discussions of how to eliminate administrative costs:]
"Council also had some ideas, such as cutting management raises and even possibly closing the Reading Public Library to save $500,000. The city has to cut back to its core services, and the library isn't one of them, several council members said."
(I have emboldened and reddened the text in two areas to indicate the severity of what our city's government--or at least several members of its council--is proposing.)
Clearly I have a vested interest in having the Reading Public Library remain open: this is my place of employment and how I make my living. However challenging the library's closure would be to me personally, my real grievance is how much would be senselessly taken from the community with our library's suppression, even temporarily (and council is not speaking in terms of transience when they mention shuttering Reading Public Library's doors.)
The current economic crisis has caused scores of hardworking citizens to lose their employment. Every day, my colleagues and I encounter men and women who are looking for work, and assist them in navigating the internet for jobs, helping them learn how to draft a resume, or how to connect with local employers. We do it because it is part of our mission to help anyone who comes to us to the best of our ability, and we are happy to do so. We are proud to serve our patrons in whatever manner we are able.
We help students seeking materials to prepare for exams, and others with various academic pursuits, ranging from science fair project development to compiling research papers on a myriad of topics. We perform readers' advisory service, meaning when a patron shares that he or she has just finished a particular book and found it enjoyable but doesn't know what to read next, we are informed professionals who can point them to another title. The blog entries before today's detail books and films we will soon see on the Main Library's shelves: these, and hundreds of thousands of other library holdings, are available to be borrowed---FOR FREE--by anyone with a valid library card.
Apparently city council does not find this eminently noble enterprise to be anything worthwhile. Shame on them.
I am only describing what the professional reference staff does, and at that am hardly sharing an exhaustive list of our department's services. I dare not attempt to list all the benefits of our children's and young adults' departments, who host hundreds of programs annually, reaching out to the youngest in our community in ways no other organization can: through the wonder of the printed word. Our interlibrary loan services guarantee--with hardly any exception--that patrons can request almost any book in the world and have it delivered for them to our library. It is mind-boggling how very dedicated our ILL department is, and I know dozens of our regular patrons who utilize their services regularly.
Our technical services department annually processes thousands of items--well beyond books--including DVDs, music CDs, books on CD, and even toys, all for the edification or enjoyment of the public. The circulation staff not only checks out items to the public, they also shelve (and keep shelving--there's never an end to shelving in the library!) and retrieve items which people have requested to be pulled. We are an organization whose departments are entirely interdependent on one another, but all with one goal in mind and one task at hand:
TO BEST SERVE THE PUBLIC IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
Now imagine this is all swept aside simply because city council is facing a budget crunch.
The injustice of it is staggering, its ramifications deplorable, and yet several council members are hastening the Reading Public Library's termination. In the advent of any library's closure, far more serious consequences than its staff's unemployment shall follow:
It means depriving citizens of all ages and backgrounds access to information and knowledge.
It means denying ways for people to improve themselves.
It means closing the doors of opportunity.
Please contact the mayor's office and the city council and tell them that you do not want the closure of the Reading Public Library to be considered as a viable means of resolving Reading's budget woes.
6 comments:
I agree with Nathaniel's well written disquisition!
I encourage the residents of Reading to own up to their town's name and show support for their library...
My advice: "Take it to Prayer."
This is surreal. I will be in contact with you about responses from the public. I already have some folks mobilized to attend a Council meeting and start a letter-writing campaign. I am approaching my 6th-grader's middle school about having teachers organize a student letter-writing campaign.
And I am getting the names of every council person that seriously considered closing the libraries. They will never run for an office again where they won't have to face answering for it. No one that reads would consider closing a library. If someone doesn't read, should they hold a public office?
This is so ridiculous. It figures the brainiacs on Reading City Council would blithely discuss library closures rather than, say, reductions to their own salaries as a means of balancing the budget.
These people should be ashamed of themselves. No one who has so little regard for public knowledge should be permitted to hold positions of power.
This is madness. It is also symptomatic of cities around the country which, when faced with the dilemma of having to choose between public safety (fire and police) and the library system, choose books.
Consider Salinas in California. They had to shutter their libraries until they had more funds. All staff was laid off, with no prospects except the promise of a job once conditions improved. Luckily, the Salinas libraries are open once again, but it shows that it CAN HAPPEN HERE.
Main is the very heart of the City of Reading. Penn Square and the Outer Station have gone, the Pagoda has morphed into a sparkly LCD display, and beloved Whitner's and Pomeroy's are nothing but memories. Main is continuity with the past and a promise for the future. Main represents hope.
The closure of Main will symbolize the moral abandonment of the City of Reading. Yes, churches will remain, people will attend entertainment events, and adventuresome people from Spring Township will drive in to work in studio space in the GoggleWorks. But there will be a big empty structure at the corner of 5th and Franklin.
Banco Santander: Please step up to the plate and show your support for the city now that you've bought Sovereign Bank. Endow the library so it can keep going, or at least promise some operating funds during these difficult times.
Can you hear the national newscasters? "As of midnight tonight, there will be no 'reading' in Reading, Pennsylvania. The city has closed its library system due to funding problems..."
This really is disturbing. Obviously like Nathaniel, I too, as a library employee have a vested interest in keeping the library open, but this goes beyond mere employment: closing a library is anti-democratic and anti-humanitarian. Not to mention a closure is an incredibly short sighted fix to the city’s economic problems. Not only is the public library a literal temple to democratic freedoms it’s a revenue maker and fiscally efficient.
According to “Taxpayer Return-on-Investment (ROI) in Pennsylvania Public Libraries” a 2006 study, Pennsylvania’s public libraries provide a return on investment of $5.50 in benefits for every $1 of tax support! And if public libraries didn’t exist, the study said, the economic loss to our communities across the Commonwealth would total nearly $1.34 billion. That’s 5.5 times what we dedicate annually in local, state, and federal taxes for public libraries. (Study: http://tinyurl.com/27gohg)
It will be a sad day indeed when the public library closes. Please do not let this happen.
Librarian Carl
Since I am not totally sure that City Council can read, I would expect them to come up with a half brained idea such as this. Core services are services that are open to all, and the library is certainly one of these services. It amazes me, on every visit, just how busy the RPL is and how well the staff does its job.
Sadly since City Council makes bad decisions the norm, such as spending 4 million dollars to replace a working radio system or better than a million dollars to install security cameras with limited view due to foliage, I fear it could actually carry out this threat.
Traveling around I have found a few things to be true. Great communities have great parks, great nightlife, and great libraries. Shortsighted and dollar foolish city council just does not get it!
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