Cuts to library spending

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Gwen,

From my recollections of years ago as a New York Public Library patron, I suspect that there was probably another area with stacks and such, and the popular fiction you saw may have been the branch's holdings of "hot" 7-day books (no reserves, no renewals): latest Stephanie Plum, Grisham, etc.

I was struck by how you plan to read library e-books on devices that don't seem compatible with Overdrive (as far as I could tell).

I was picking through old posts and re-checked this thread. I just wanted to answer this...

No, I'm not going to remove the DRM off the overdrive books. I do remove DRM from my personal ebook collection, but that's different, I paid for those! I'm reading the epub books on my laptop and I'm strongly considering a Sony as a second ereader.

I really love my Kindle. I REALLY love it. I'm sad it doesn't support epub. I'm not "angry", I know why it doesn't, I just wish it would.

At the same time I feel very strongly it's important to support libraries (and by "support" them I mean "make use of them"). With a NYC card (available to me as a New York resident) my ebook checkouts increase the numbers a tiny bit further towards "more taxpayer support of ebooks in libraries". I don't real paper books any more, but my son makes so much use of the local library he counts for both of us . That way both libraries are made use of.

I may get a Sony or I may continue to read epub ebooks on my laptop. In the meantime I have everything set up (ADE running under Wine) and books in my checkout queue . It is helping to save me cash, as I'm spending less at Amazon since setting this up.

[sommerpears]

I agree with one of the previous posts - that you can't blame the government or politicians for slashing budget cuts where they have when you look at the popularity of that service. I'm not saying that libraries should be dissolved but realistically only a handful of people still regularly go to libraries- even less if they are off-campus ones.

For me, as a child, libraries have always been uncomfortable. I have always had a passion for reading but walking into libraries has always enacted a bit of a cold chill down my spine. The confusing rows and rows of archived books (that never seem to make any chronological sense) and the stiff silence of the ambiance, all were major deterrents for me. Now to compare that to me sitting cozily at my favorite coffee shop with my laptop, downloading a scholarly article or novel.

It is a new technological age - where information and novels can be downloaded at a click of the button, bought new or old for cheap, or streamed online. Is it not better that information has become so avidly available for people?

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[spam link removed by moderation]

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Marcy

This is due to poor management in your library. My library has tons of DVDs and CDs available. If you return the DVD damaged you have to pay for it to be replaced. If you don't return it, same thing applies.

While they have no police force to make people pay for DVDs, if you have a fee outstanding on your account you can't take out anything else.

I obviously love books, but I also appreciate the DVDs my library makes available, even if we are #54 on the waitlist for Toy Story 3.

-Marcy

The libraries where I live will send a collection agency after you if you don't return books.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by NVash

He tells me that he just found out he has a fine of eleven dollars and walked away sad. Im thinking how the heck does one get a fine so large? Its around a quarter every day a book or DVD is late. Think you get to keep books a month and DVDs a week. How does one amount to such a large fine? And what was he going to ask? To use my card? Heck no, I paid my fines buddy. Most people I know with huge fines though, they continue to go to the library, they just never check anything out.

Eleven dollars is nothing. I've routinely seen fines of over 50 dollars. Heck, I had a fine of nearly two hundred dollars from a missing DVD. That was at an academic library; for some reason they've bought into the BS peddled by the content industry that they need to pay an exorbitant fee per item in order to stock digital media. Public libraries don't seem to have this policy; I don't see why academic libraries, better prepared to fight any possible legal battle, cave in to it.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Okay, got the drill. If your government wants to cut spending, on anything, you rally your friends, make phone calls, write letters, put up signs and stop them. We are not going to cut anything. Nothing. In fact, we're just going to spend more, and more, and more. We don't ever have to pay the bills.

How about we cut military spending in half, divert half of THAT to libraries and refund the remainder? Taxes go down, libraries are saved, and, hopefully, less people get blown to bits by cluster bombs. A true win, win situation.

[luqmaninbmore]

[QUOTE=sommerpears;1313628]I agree with one of the previous posts - that you can't blame the government or politicians for slashing budget cuts where they have when you look at the popularity of that service. I'm not saying that libraries should be dissolved but realistically only a handful of people still regularly go to libraries- even less if they are off-campus ones.

[spam link removed by moderation]

This is demonstrably false. As several people in this thread have noted, and I myself have observed, public libraries are frequently packed with people. Certainly more than a 'handful.'

[Andrew H.]

Libraries where I live are generally fairly well-used. But they do cost something, and have to compete with other city services, like police, firefighters, community hospitals, sidewalks, parks, etc. - all basically coming from the same pools of tax money, which is shrinking.

There can also be specific local issues: several years ago, my city approved a massive $100 million expansion of our downtown library; $50 million came from private funds and $50 million came from the city. But due to some bad decision making on the part of the library board, the total cost ended up being $150 million, with the city now having to pay out $100 million for the library. Consequently, hours have been cut, staff has been cut, and I assume books have also been cut (although we do have 7,000 ebooks available). While of course a lot of people do still support the library, people also feel burned by the fiasco and there's not a lot of sympathy or public will to increase funding for it.

[screwballl]

Many libraries are funded by bonds to cover budget shortfalls. In the closing months of 2010, we saw yields on municipal bonds rise to their highest levels since early 2009. After 29 consecutive weeks of inflows into municipal bond funds, investors are now pulling money out of municipal bond funds by record amounts, with $9 billion exiting municipal bond funds in the five weeks leading up to Christmas. There will likely be a small dip in municipal bond yields over the next couple of months as investors realize that municipal debt defaults might not be imminent, but we expect municipal bond yields to begin rising again by mid-2011 with a huge surge in municipal debt defaults coming in the second half of 2011. Although the Federal Government has a printing press that it uses in order to pay its debts, cities and municipalities do not.
This is only the beginning...

[patrickt]

Cancelled

[patrickt]

Cancelled

[mldavis2]

I'm not a librarian, but I think one very important facet of libraries is missing from this thread. Good librarians don't just shelve books and check them out. They are a valuable resource in helping people find books of interest for research or just plain reading. They can get to know patrons and, like the owner of a neighborhood bookseller, they can steer readers to new and unknown authors, more appropriate levels of reading material and be an inspiration to head off into new genres. They can assist younger readers in finding material appropriate to their reading level, monitor progress and push them a bit farther in their reading and comprehensive skills. They can steer them to 'must-read' classics to provide background for future critique of literature. They organize book discussion groups and assist in obtaining an adequate number of copies for the group to read simultaneously. And, from a previous comment, they help make people comfortable while in the library.

All of this is being lost as politicians axe funding. Library science is becoming a lost art and librarians are moving to other lines of work. This is not the inevitable loss of the blacksmith or buggy-whip maker, it's a loss of basic community service education. It is also, perhaps, suggestive of the lack of education and literary awareness of our political 'leaders' who are, themselves, suffering from their own deficiencies.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by mldavis2

I'm not a librarian, but I think one very important facet of libraries is missing from this thread. Good librarians don't just shelve books and check them out. They are a valuable resource in helping people find books of interest for research or just plain reading. They can get to know patrons and, like the owner of a neighborhood bookseller, they can steer readers to new and unknown authors, more appropriate levels of reading material and be an inspiration to head off into new genres. They can assist younger readers in finding material appropriate to their reading level, monitor progress and push them a bit farther in their reading and comprehensive skills. They can steer them to 'must-read' classics to provide background for future critique of literature. They organize book discussion groups and assist in obtaining an adequate number of copies for the group to read simultaneously. And, from a previous comment, they help make people comfortable while in the library.

I think you are confusing book sellers with librarians. In recent years many public libraries have taken on the appearance of retail book shops though. IMO this is mostly a good thing. The next step is to give the librarians a cut of the revenue earned from the book sale that happens as a result of their recommendation, to be paid after the patron has read the book. Libraries will still be funded by the public in a copyright free world, indeed how could they ever not be??

I say we don't vote for anyone who's main platform isn't a 1000000% increase in library funding.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I think you are confusing book sellers with librarians.

What? Why? My librarian helps me discover new material all the time. I am a regular patron in our small town library. We regularly chat about new acquisitions that I might find interesting, books he's read recently that he found interesting, etc etc.

If they don't have the book I am looking for it means a trip to the big city. They, too, have a library, and probably the book I am looking for (or can get it), but nobody knows me there, I'm just a patron among hundreds... It really does make all the difference.

[mldavis2]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I think you are confusing book sellers with librarians. In recent years many public libraries have taken on the appearance of retail book shops though.

I think it depends on where you live -- big city of rural town. My local library does not sell books except during an annual 'fire sale,' hosted by the local Friends of the Library group, which is mainly used to eliminate the many books donated by estates that are duplicates or outdated references. There is also a finite limit on shelf space. The money is mostly used to re-bind books and purchase new ones.

Yes, they do offer computers for net-surfing. Our poverty base is rather large, and many people cannot afford either a computer and/or the expense of network access, and the computer desks are usually full and time-limited.

And, with all due respect, I'll stand by my comment that a librarian is an equal source of direction than all but the independently owned bookseller. We do not have a bookstore in town, and a BAM is a 50 mile round-trip with minimal staff and little expertise. I think you are confusing a good local bookseller with the typically understaffed mega-store. I wish we had a good bookseller, but there are none withing 100 miles.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by sommerpears

I agree with one of the previous posts - that you can't blame the government or politicians for slashing budget cuts where they have when you look at the popularity of that service. I'm not saying that libraries should be dissolved but realistically only a handful of people still regularly go to libraries- even less if they are off-campus ones.

For me, as a child, libraries have always been uncomfortable. I have always had a passion for reading but walking into libraries has always enacted a bit of a cold chill down my spine. The confusing rows and rows of archived books (that never seem to make any chronological sense) and the stiff silence of the ambiance, all were major deterrents for me. Now to compare that to me sitting cozily at my favorite coffee shop with my laptop, downloading a scholarly article or novel.

It is a new technological age - where information and novels can be downloaded at a click of the button, bought new or old for cheap, or streamed online. Is it not better that information has become so avidly available for people?

Wow, my sympathies that your early experiences with libraries were so uncomfortable. Mine were the total opposite - I loved the library, loved the slightly musty smell, loved the special hushed feeling, loved all the books, and the librarians who would talk about them with me. Libraries (and my parents) were what got me hooked on reading. As I've gotten older, I admit I wish I could take my mug of tea or coffee into the library, but I manage. And, my husband was the same, and our son too.

And your experience of "only a handful of people" using libraries now is completely different than my experience too. Every time I walk in one of my four "sort-of-local" libraries (my local county and city libraries and the city and county libraries where my son lives a couple of hours away) it is packed. And, even more packed as hours get cut back. Granted, I'm not there in the middle of a weekday, but on the weeknights and weekends that have survived budget cuts, they are packed. People reading, people using the computers, people browsing the stacks, long checkout lines, kids' programs on the weekend...

More ready availability of info via the Internet is great, but based on my four anecdotal little data points, libraries are still very much used.