All, I think it is timely that this issue arises - it shows up like clockwork about once a year and it's good to discuss it gain.
A couple of observations: 1) Librarians talking to librarians is not likely to produce sustainable funding for synagogue libraries 2) Librarians talking to educators/rabbis is only slightly more likely to be successful. (Same issue as we have all identified - after the heating bill and paving for the parking lot, there's no money left) 3) Congregants/members talking to librarians is not likely to produce funding. Because that has to be followed by (2, above) which leads to a dead end. 4) Congregants/members talking to rabbis, synagogue machers, and the power centers in the library are somewhat more likely. The big picture, in my opinion, is that the money allocators in the synagogue are far more likely to listen to the dues-paying members than the librarians. This may not be a politically correct thing thing to say on HaSafran, but I think it's true. So the strategy ought to be to mobilize the members (and the members' kids). As for the idea of an endowment - it's an interesting thought, but I wonder about how (practically) it would work. TO be nationally useful, it would need to be decentralized so that libraries anywhere could benefit. But decentralization has its own costs in terms of administration and quality control. Once we have the big chunk of endowment funding (!) we can work out these issues. Ted Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
