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28 December 2004
closing all libraries, salinas is
This is what happens when one starts reading a biography of Benjamin Cardozo over winter break--sprout like weeds inverted sentences do...
In a sad bit of California news, the city of Salinas is closing all its public libraries. Sad news generally, but as the above-linked article notes, particularly so for a community with a high percentage of low-income workers and immigrants who rely on public libraries as a source of information. The article also notes a few other facts that highlight that this is not an isolated incident: Alabama cut $80 million from its 2003-2004 education budget, and another $140-190 million is supposed to be cut in the 2004-2005 year. As the article notes, "[t]here is virtually no money for public school library enhancements, including new materials." It also notes that "Colorado reduced its library operating budget by 77 percent, forcing libraries to eliminate $6.5 million in expenses, including upgrades to electronic filing systems and computers with public Internet access."
We're fortunate to be surrounded by books at home, and to have the resources to buy more when the topic or mood strike us, but for many people, that's just not realistic: putting food on the table or paying the rent understandably comes first. Losing public libraries strikes me as one more step toward a darker time. Or perhaps that's exactly what some of our elected officials desire: a less informed populus with opinions based not on their own synthesis of information but on what they've been spoon-fed.
(Thanks to bookslut for the news and link.)