While no one wants more taxes, I have suggested
before that those of us who are able pay a library fee each year. Even at 2.00 a
month that is only 24.00 a year to use our library. (which I do on a regular
basis). I would pay a fee to have my library card and to those in the
community who cannot afford to pay a fee would either get theirs at a reduced
rate or perhaps through whatever funds the library uses now?
Just a thought. I cannot* imagine not being able to
go to the library.
Linda Fort
[Winona Online Democracy]
Is this the
specter of the future for our community and state if people continue to
believe that having a few more cents in their pockets is more important than
having more sense in their minds?
I encourage you to read the attached
article from today's Strib and consider if we are currently on this very very
path that Salinas, CA finds itself. We are already experiencing reduced
services from our exemplary public library, and of course I worry about the
quality of education we will be providing to our children in the public school
system. This is not meant to provoke argument, but thought. Are we as a
society abandoning the very public institutions that have made this a great
state/country? I just finished listening to an hour of the late Elmer L.
Andersen on public radio and realized that we are turning away from his
philosophy of public investment. I am a lifelong advocate of libraries and
education, and I worry that both are increasingly considered expendable. In
addition, if Salinas is successful in finding a corporate sponsor, how will
that affect the diversity of books and resources that the library can
offer?
Vicki
Englich
Vu
This newsSteinbeck's hometown to close
all its libraries
Rachel
Konrad, Associated Press
December 28, 2004 STEIN1228
SALINAS,
CALIF. -- Mary Jean Gamble organized the John Steinbeck historical archives,
supervised the Steinbeck literature collection and ranks as an authority on
Salinas history and genealogy.
After nearly 23 years with the Salinas
Public Library, she may know more about the "Grapes of Wrath" or "Cannery Row"
than anyone else in the author's hometown.
So how would Steinbeck have
reacted to the news that the cash-strapped city is closing its libraries in
the spring?
"He'd obviously be upset. He knew that literature can lift and
elevate the spirit and enable humans to rise above any situation," Gamble
said.
Facing record deficits, the City Council voted Dec. 14 to shut all
three of Salinas' libraries, including the branches named after Steinbeck and
labor leader Cesar Chavez. The blue-collar town of 150,000 could become the
most populous U.S. city without a public library.
Salinas, nicknamed "salad
bowl to the nation" for the lettuce and broccoli fields nearby, is the 1902
birthplace of the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Cannery Row" and "Of Mice and
Men." Steinbeck, who died in 1968, described the region as "pastures of
heaven" and memorialized Salinas in his 1952 novel "East of Eden."
But
after voters Nov. 2 rejected a half-cent increase in the sales tax to preserve
city services, Salinas has drawn the scorn of bibliophiles around the world.
Editorials in newspapers from New Zealand to London have condemned the
closings.
"It's embarrassing, not to mention inconvenient," said Ben Lopez,
69, who visits the Steinbeck branch at least twice a week. "Where else will I
go to check out material -- Prunedale?" he said, referring to a relatively
spartan branch of the Monterey County Free Libraries system.
Because of
Salinas' large number of poor farm workers and immigrants, the city's
libraries are popular destinations for people seeking citizenship primers,
literacy courses, English-as-a-second language tapes, Internet access and
after-school programs. Roughly 1,900 people visit each day.
"The reality is
that we live in a blue-collar community where people are struggling, and
they're afraid of new taxes," Mayor Anna Caballero said.
Salinas is not
alone. More than 1,100 libraries nationwide have cut hours or staff.
All
three branches in Salinas are set to close by May or June.
Some residents
are hoping a private donor will rescue the library. And librarians are
considering seeking corporate sponsorship.
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