Thank you, Lisa, for this very thoughtful and insightful post. The sentence I find the most thought provoking is:
*FROM LISA:* *Synagogues clearly need to save money and move forward with the things that engage the most members and cut funding from things that don’t. Period. Sentiment is not a reason to pour money into old models of synagogue engagement. The problem for libraries is that the decision-makers are not seeing beyond the old model and are not offering funding for librarians to create new models.* FROM ANN: I’m wondering if there are synagogue librarians who have created new models, that are doing WELL, and that have the enthusiastic support of your institutions; and, that you’d be willing to share with the rest of us? I’d be happy to serve as central station to collect your narratives, as perhaps it’s not necessary to inform all of AJL/Hasafran about what synagogue libraries are doing, but I would share them with all SSC members, or anyone else who’s interested. But, my main point is, are there any GOOD stories out there? Maybe we can cause something constructive to come out of these terrible occurrences. *From:* Hasafran [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Lisa Silverman *Sent:* Wednesday, May 27, 2015 7:58 PM *To:* [email protected] *Subject:* Re: [ha-Safran] Library position eliminated Excuse the long post, but I would like to weigh in to this discussion because of the similar changes going on here at Sinai Temple, which mirror what is happening everywhere. In our case, 100 letters from people outside our organization, especially if they had come from different cities, would have been an interesting social experiment, but would not have changed a thing. A year ago, our temple board decided that due to economic reasons beyond their control, they decided to remove all funding for the library. It was explained to me that due to the recession there had been a severe downturn in donations, and, along with our major building upgrade and renovations, the temple was in the fiscal red. Our professional staff of 4.5 employees was cut to…zero. The library and its needs, budget, and staffing, was handed over to the Pre-K-8 day school, because it was common knowledge that the majority of patrons were day school students, staff, and parents. The day school had only enough money to offer two positions to librarians and I was retained as the day school librarian and another school librarian was hired as associate. With my knowledge of adult sources, I was encouraged to still help the synagogue patrons, when or if they continued to come in. All adult programming was cut because I am now working for the school and do programming solely related to school needs, which are considerable. (I made the personal choice to continue with my evening adult book group because this group has been meeting regularly for 15 years, even though the temple did not pay me for it. It was suggested that I charge for attendance at this group, which I rejected as absurd.) We are now in the process of reducing our adult collection considerably, and moving these items to the soon-to-open Sperber Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles, which is now part of American Jewish University. I have been serving as consultant for them, and will begin working there next year as the community librarian. Our adult collection here will still be accessible to all patrons, although it will be run by the school librarian and not kept up by a professional Judaic librarian. Since working as Sinai Akiba Academy school librarian this year, no longer as the temple librarian, I have come away with some observations I would like to share: 1. Synagogues clearly need to save money and move forward with the things that engage the most members and cut funding from things that don’t. Period. Sentiment is not a reason to pour money into old models of synagogue engagement. The problem for libraries is that the decision-makers are not seeing beyond the old model and are not offering funding for librarians to create new models. 2. Protesting to the powers that be does not work when boards have already made difficult decisions. If a library is a beloved part of an institution, board members do not make these decisions lightly, but when they do, they are rarely swayed to change their minds because by that time they have heard all the sides they are going to hear and have thought it all through. (We had many letters written in opposition, and members spoke their minds at meetings—the decision to close library funding stuck.) 3. Our school/student/parent engagement has gone up this year and we keep quite busy. These people are also members of our temple, which should be noted. The authors/literary and film programming is now the responsibility of the programming department. Those people who are missing out on what used to be are the mostly older, retired, literary minded folk who liked to come into the library for such things. Hopefully, they have been absorbed by other programming of the temple, but if not, it seems their numbers are not significant for the board to reinstate funding. This library will still be run well after I leave next year, but it will no longer be a leader among synagogue libraries and the go-to catalog for Elazar system users. Adult patrons will still be served, but eventually it will turn into a fine school library, and the people of Los Angeles will turn to the Jewish Community Library at AJU for Jewish-themed books, book and film clubs, literary events and programs. *Lisa Silverman* Library Director, Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library 10400 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, CA 90024 *310-481-3215 (direct) 310-481-3218 (main) **library.sinaitemple.org* <http://library.sinaitemple.org/>
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