Libraryman

Beleaguered Salinas plans to close its libraries and The Californian tries to draw attention to the issue. Meanwhile, ALA has a site that anti-tax voters should have checked out before turning down library funding initatives on recent ballots.
Sure, big cuts will be made, but some sort of reduced library service will remain. Meanwhile the politicians will hope that the “well at least we didn’t loose all of our library services” feeling sticks and prevents voters from being too upset. Of course, once a library closes, odds are its gone for good.
It has been my experience that, just like Minnesota (which you?ll remember lost its state library a short while back), California has some of the countries best librarians and libraries. Look at Info People for goodness sake! So why the massive cuts in this library system? Well, it?s not just Salinas (see above link to ALA funding site), though certainly their current debacle is especially troubling.
To keep this from happening more and more, libraries need to spearhead community building programs, quality training programs and voters need to educate themselves before they cut money to something that provides such improved quality of life. Surely Salinas is full of community oriented folks and has a decent quality of life, but when I see news like this that sure isn’t my initial thought.
DVDs of the Day: Pee Wee’s Playhouse, just out on DVD!