WM: A person or persons as yet identified needs to stand outside each community library and ask people to write a postcard to the legislators for that area saying, "In the beginning was the word..." and carry on with pith for the length of the card. Those of you on this list can do the same by e-mail. This fall, bug the legislature. Send people over to lobby. The city cannot solve this alone, the legislature and the congress can.What can we do to make the point that a week without libraries is a week without knowledge, without learning, without community?
WM: So long as we look at this situation from the wrong end of the telescope, we will continue to get the little picture. MPL has been operating from the premise that the central library feeds the community libraries for low these many years. That is not the case: the community libraries feed the central library. Presently, Washburn (13 or 14 staff), Walker (12 or 13 staff), and Hosmer (7 staff) have very high stats for usage (even little Hosmer come within an inch of half as many users as central). So far as I'm aware, only Hosmer goes outside the library to recruit new, particularly child users. MPL appears to have dropped its commitment to outreach outside the buildings sometime after the Gratia Countryman Era.[MH] ...a result of trying to operate too many facilities, without adequate operating funds.
Yet community libraries are understaffed and open fewer hours, while central has something like 100 floor staff and has always been open longer hours. What's wrong with that picture? First, this picture has more than a hint of elitism. Second, it does not serve the public well.
Hindsight being all so clear, it would have been strategically smarter to pass a referendum to upgrade all the community libraries, repair/remodel central, and move some of central's functions to the remodeled community libraries or buildings the library owns, but does not use presently. Ah, if wishes were horses beggars would ride.
WM: Yes, this is painful. Yes, this is counter productive when both federal and state bodies should be increasing the budget for libraries and schools.Perhaps if a one week vacation isn't acceptable to remaining employees, the administration could just lay off a few more librarians, thus finding the needed funds to keep all facilities open... a few days a week anyway, rather than closing them for the one week period and saving a job or two in the process. Or, they might just reduce fixed costs and increase operating hours system-wide, year-round, in an effort to improve customer service. What is the plan for next year when additional budget cuts will be necessary?
How do you propose reducing fixed costs? Close libraries? That decision has been taken for the moment and I would argue that it was the right decision. Not build a new library? Too late, there are guys down in the central hole in the ground doin' stuff. The other fixed cost is staff. They have already announced staff cuts. Now they have to strategically place staff so that they get the most bang for the buck, library-wise speaking.
The costs that have been slashed to ribbons are the book budget and the replacement budget. Even before this Mpls. situation book budgets had been reduced by half virtually across the country, according to Library Journal, while the cost of books sky-rocketed. They've been reduced to carrot peels in the 2004 budget here.
I would argue that MPL cannot take any more budget cuts without destroying the library to such an extent that it will take decades to put it back in place. Is that what we want? I don't think so.
WizardMarks, Central
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