Much worse than the naming rights, which were repulsive on the face of
it, was 15 candidates, only four of which would >possibly< be worth
voting for. It was very, very sad.
Of those 15 candidates, fully five of them were librarians, at least one
of which is an MPL employee. Hello... Are you quitting your day job?
This is a kind of 'you're your own grandpa' thing. You cannot be both an
employee and a board member. Second, this is a citizens board;
librarians have a lot more say in how the library works than do the
patrons as it is. Having librarians on the board--including Virginia
Holte--is not OK with me. It skewers the issues from the needs of the
patrons to the needs of the librarians. Librarians already have two
unions, PLUM and AFSME, to bring their issues to the fore. In fairness,
the citizenry, who are paying the freight on all of this, should have
one vehicle for their input.
What was patently clear was that most of those asking for our vote were
pretty well clueless on what libraries are all about. For example: no
one seemed to understand that libraries are only about books
secondarily. Libraries are about people and their needs qua books, etc.
Therefore, if you are shifting employees around constantly, so that one
is never sure when walking into the library that the same staff will be
there from one day to the next, the library is not serving the public.
Staff continuity is part of what makes libraries work for the patrons.
Second, the library wants to both take money raised by individual
community libraries downtown and to have a newly installed person(s) in
management choose what books the community libraries should have. Excuse
me? The librarians in the branches are the ones who hear from patrons
what kind of books they need. Downtown has not a clue because they don't
hear from the branch patrons. Any materials they choose, other than
standard replacements (dictionaries, atlases, the latest Harry Potter)
are chosen in a vacuum Also, when we donate money to our neighborhood
libraries, from NRP funds, other neighborhood monies, or our own pockets
we want that money to stay in the neighborhood library so that it can be
used for materials and programming that meet our needs.
Third, at least one library employee who had put in 29 years, 46 weeks,
was summarily discharged, not because the employee had failed, but
because it could save the library x amount of money in pension benefits
if the employee did not stay the extra six weeks until retirement. How
slimy is that?
Fourth: not one candidate had anything to say about thinking outside the
box in an atmosphere where virtually no one in management can do that.
How astute does that make present board members? Zip, zero, nada clue.
Fifth: the culture of MPL is one of backbiting pettiness. Not one
candidate talked about how to change that paradigm to one which would
serve the patrons better.
On another level, city council and the mayor are now talking about
dissolving the library board and making themselves leaders of the
library. Unbelievable ego. Unbelievably stupid. The mayor is entirely
undistinguished as is this city council. Why even posit the notion of
taking on another whole host of issues when you cannot handle the issues
already on your plate.
What was distressing was the dearth of clear ideas. I left the forum
feeling lower than a snake's belly.
WizardMarks, Central
David Strand wrote:
I thought that the most controversial and distressing
idea to be presented at last nights forum was when
Alan Hooker expressed much enthusiasm for the idea of
selling naming rights to various libraries and
subsections to raise funds.
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If
you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL
PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
