Library cuts deny children glorious addiction

boxcorner · 03-01-2011, 03:16 AM

Library cuts will deny our children the glorious addiction of reading
The Observer - 20 February 2011

"Books are my disease; a sickness I have passed on to my children and one I was afflicted with more than 50 years ago by my father, a printer of comics. Every Friday he would come home from work with a rolled up bundle that included the Beano, Dandy, Topper, Beezer, the Victor and the Rover, and even the Bunty and the Judy. I must be one of the few men who can name the surnames of the Four Marys, a group of boarding school girls whose adventures graced the pages of the Bunty."

tubemonkey · 03-01-2011, 03:38 AM

Why not consolidate services? Let kids check out books from schools.

Because of dwindling funds, I'm in all in favor of shutting down neighborhood libraries and just using a few regional libraries in their place.

I think the following is a smart move on the part of this library system:

Quote:

As a result of a $1.8 million shortfall in the Library's 2011 - 2012 budget, the Tacoma Public Library will close two branch libraries and reduce hours at the downtown Main Library effective Monday, January 31, 2011. The Library's Board of Trustees approved the closure at their December Board meeting after reviewing options to balance the library's budget. In reaching the decision Trustees considered four factors: circulation and usage, the size of the library, the distance to nearby libraries and the condition of the building.

Richey79 · 03-01-2011, 05:20 AM

'The banks are too big to be allowed to fail.'

The future generation can go to Hell in a hand cart, though.

What will there be in the future for children in those homes that can't afford books, a computer (let alone an internet connection), or time and transport to get to the libraries that will become further and further away.

No rationalisation will persuade me that this is a decision that makes sense.

tubemonkey · 03-01-2011, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richey79

'The banks are too big to be allowed to fail.'

The future generation can go to Hell in a hand cart, though.

What will there be in the future for children in those homes that can't afford books, a computer (let alone an internet connection), or time and transport to get to the libraries that will become further and further away.

No rationalisation will persuade me that this is a decision that makes sense.

What are schools for? and why aren't kids getting their books from the schools?

kaleissin · 03-01-2011, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

What are schools for?

There's an increasing huff-and-puff about abolishing public schools in the US. Kids will have vouchers to attend private school, or be home schooled. How do you think that'll work out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

and why aren't kids getting their books from the schools?

Have you ever been to a (grade) school library?

JeremyR · 03-01-2011, 06:15 AM

As I've said before - quit buying/loaning cds, dvds, and video games. Those have no place in a library...

Doing a quick seach for "DVD" on that Tacoma library's catalog, turned up 8500 hits...(no video games that I could see, though)

Better yet, since so many people use Libraries as video rental places, stop renting them and put a couple Red Box machines in front.

Asawi · 03-01-2011, 06:32 AM

Libraries are so important! Makes no different if it's US or my home country (Sweden).
I live in a small town where there is very little going on. We do however have a very nice library and that makes up for so much else. It's not fancy but it's there!
Sometimes you have to wonder what the people in charge of our communities are thinking, but sometimes they so get it right.
We really shouldn't be able to keep this lovely library here, being a low-income population, but they decided it was important enough (BECAUSE we're a low-income population who need libraries more than the "rich") to have a brainstorming about, and the result was that the library staff deal with other things beside library work. (Tourist information and handling administration statistics and paperwork are things I can think of off-hand.)
Apart form giving our children a chance to discover the wonderful world of reading I much rather have my kid hang in the library, if only to read comic book, than many other places!

tubemonkey · 03-01-2011, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaleissin

There's an increasing huff-and-puff about abolishing public schools in the US. Kids will have vouchers to attend private school, or be home schooled. How do you think that'll work out?

Have you ever been to a (grade) school library?

It won't work. The push toward private schools is just an attempt from right-wingers to allow religion into the classroom.

I'm sure those libraries suck. The problem I'm having is a duplication of resources from two governmental agencies. The result is a waste of tax dollars. Consolidate those resources and only have one agency provide the books for children.

snipenekkid · 03-01-2011, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyR

As I've said before - quit buying/loaning cds, dvds, and video games. Those have no place in a library...

Doing a quick seach for "DVD" on that Tacoma library's catalog, turned up 8500 hits...(no video games that I could see, though)

Better yet, since so many people use Libraries as video rental places, stop renting them and put a couple Red Box machines in front.

BUT are those items actually bringing in a profit? Our library has had a record, as in vinyl, section since the 60s and nobody whined and moaned about it then. Now video games, some can actually be educational but shoot 'em up and hack apart the leftovers must not be in the mix. Same for most other entertainment video games, then again, maybe they belong of they do tell a story.

What about audiobooks?

I just feel anything to get people into the library is fine. I do like the Red Box idea though. That would be super for videos!

Hamlet53 · 03-01-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It won't work. The push toward private schools is just an attempt from right-wingers to allow religion into the classroom.

I'm sure those libraries suck. The problem I'm having is a duplication of resources from two governmental agencies. The result is a waste of tax dollars. Consolidate those resources and only have one agency provide the books for children.

Seeing first hand this going on under Scott Walker in Wisconsin I must disagree. It goes far beyond religion. It reflects an ideology that services and resources that had always been equally available to all regardless of economic status should end. This should be replaced by a privatization model where access to these services and resources, and the quality thereof, should be dependent on individual ability to pay.

bgalbrecht · 03-01-2011, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Seeing first hand this going on under Scott Walker in Wisconsin I must disagree. It goes far beyond religion. It reflects an ideology that services and resources that had always been equally available to all regardless of economic status should end. This should be replaced by a privatization model where access to these services and resources, and the quality thereof, should be dependent on individual ability to pay.

That sounds fair to me. Why should someone who's never stepped foot in a library in their life have to pay (for example) $80/year in property taxes so you book addicts can get hundreds of free books a year?

DixieGal · 03-01-2011, 10:29 AM

The problem I see with having only libraries in schools is that it would cost so much more than local community libraries, especially now when schools are having programs cut left and right. It would cost fortunes to stock several school libraries with identical inventories, rather than a central library with one or two copies of books.

It would have to be identical school libraries, because of security concerns from opening up the school to outsiders coming to get books.

wyndslash · 03-01-2011, 10:32 AM

It's so sad that school budgets keep getting cut. It's the same scenario here. And to think that education should be governments' top priority too...

tubemonkey · 03-01-2011, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

The problem I see with having only libraries in schools is that it would cost so much more than local community libraries, especially now when schools are having programs cut left and right. It would cost fortunes to stock several school libraries with identical inventories, rather than a central library with one or two copies of books.

It would have to be identical school libraries, because of security concerns from opening up the school to outsiders coming to get books.

I wouldn't support this solution. I'd shut down all school libraries and make the kids go to a public library.

dmikov · 03-01-2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richey79

'The banks are too big to be allowed to fail.'

The future generation can go to Hell in a hand cart, though.

What will there be in the future for children in those homes that can't afford books, a computer (let alone an internet connection), or time and transport to get to the libraries that will become further and further away.

No rationalisation will persuade me that this is a decision that makes sense.

How about this for a rationalism, in Medieval ages peasant was beaten for knowing how to read.
Why would the government (any government) will be interested in educated populace? Educated populace asks too many questions, as long as it can read price stickers this level is good enough.
The future decision makers are schooled in private schools and expensive universities, that are priced outside the plebs reach.
So with no fierce war competition countries think they can afford a little stagnation.
All IMHO of course, but facts seems to fit.

03-01-2011, 03:16 AM	#1
boxcorner »(°±°)« Posts: 826 Karma: 775629 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: divisive reader	Library cuts deny children glorious addiction Library cuts will deny our children the glorious addiction of reading The Observer - 20 February 2011 "Books are my disease; a sickness I have passed on to my children and one I was afflicted with more than 50 years ago by my father, a printer of comics. Every Friday he would come home from work with a rolled up bundle that included the Beano, Dandy, Topper, Beezer, the Victor and the Rover, and even the Bunty and the Judy. I must be one of the few men who can name the surnames of the Four Marys, a group of boarding school girls whose adventures graced the pages of the Bunty."

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03-01-2011, 05:20 AM	#3
Richey79 mrkrgnao Posts: 241 Karma: 237248 Join Date: May 2010 Device: PRS650, K3 Wireless, Galaxy S3, iPad 3.	'The banks are too big to be allowed to fail.' The future generation can go to Hell in a hand cart, though. What will there be in the future for children in those homes that can't afford books, a computer (let alone an internet connection), or time and transport to get to the libraries that will become further and further away. No rationalisation will persuade me that this is a decision that makes sense.

03-01-2011, 06:15 AM	#6
JeremyR Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 2458402 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: St. Louis Device: Kindle Keyboard, Nook HD+	As I've said before - quit buying/loaning cds, dvds, and video games. Those have no place in a library... Doing a quick seach for "DVD" on that Tacoma library's catalog, turned up 8500 hits...(no video games that I could see, though) Better yet, since so many people use Libraries as video rental places, stop renting them and put a couple Red Box machines in front.

03-01-2011, 06:32 AM	#7
Asawi Gadgetoholic Posts: 1,467 Karma: 3865860 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sweden Device: Kobo Libra2, Tolino Vision 6	Libraries are so important! Makes no different if it's US or my home country (Sweden). I live in a small town where there is very little going on. We do however have a very nice library and that makes up for so much else. It's not fancy but it's there! Sometimes you have to wonder what the people in charge of our communities are thinking, but sometimes they so get it right. We really shouldn't be able to keep this lovely library here, being a low-income population, but they decided it was important enough (BECAUSE we're a low-income population who need libraries more than the "rich") to have a brainstorming about, and the result was that the library staff deal with other things beside library work. (Tourist information and handling administration statistics and paperwork are things I can think of off-hand.) Apart form giving our children a chance to discover the wonderful world of reading I much rather have my kid hang in the library, if only to read comic book, than many other places!

03-01-2011, 10:29 AM	#12
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	The problem I see with having only libraries in schools is that it would cost so much more than local community libraries, especially now when schools are having programs cut left and right. It would cost fortunes to stock several school libraries with identical inventories, rather than a central library with one or two copies of books. It would have to be identical school libraries, because of security concerns from opening up the school to outsiders coming to get books.

03-01-2011, 10:32 AM	#13
wyndslash Wizard Posts: 2,951 Karma: 3000001 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3 wifi, Kindle Fire	It's so sad that school budgets keep getting cut. It's the same scenario here. And to think that education should be governments' top priority too...

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