Free Entertainment for Life

Great Opinion Piece from CNN's Website

National Library Week: NPR'S Blogger Gets It

Check out this great blog entry by National Public Radio blogger Linda Holmes. She really seems to understand what public libraries are about and what we're trying to do.

The Library Card As A Pop-Culture Fiend's Ticket To Geek Paradise

In that blog she writes this insightful tidbit:

"The point I'm trying to make is that as a pop-culture-adjacent person, you may think that public libraries are not particularly relevant to you. But I felt like since we've talked about movie pricing, e-book pricing, and a lot of other business models, it was only fair to bring to your attention my experience with this bizarre business model that's so crazy it just might work."

Budget Cuts, Networking & the Titanic

Check out this article from the Utne Reader from last summer:

A Library Renaissance: Despite Higher Demand and Less Money, Libraries are Stepping Up

It seems that budget cuts are happening everywhere. Places you might normally think of as being in pretty good shape:

>Seattle

>Southern California

>Boston

And many other places are taking drastic measures, as well: cutting hours, reducing operating budgets, furlough days, etc. Some are even cutting staff.

Libraries run on money, just like all other enterprises. In an economy such as ours continues to be, libraries are not immune to the difficulties that low tax revenue and budget cuts entail. Libraries, however, have an advantage over many other types of government and, indeed, most private enterprises. That advantage is networking.

When police or fire or sewerage and drainage departments suffer budget cuts--and I use the word "suffer" on purpose--they have a hard time simply calling a city 50 miles away and asking to borrow a salt truck or taser gun. It does happen, yes, but the limits of geography apply. The Chippewa Falls Fire Department contracts with the state to handle hazardous material accident cleanup in nearby communities, for instance.

But libraries everywhere, by the very nature of their operational structure, have ALWAYS shared resources and have done so eagerly and usually pretty quietly. The State of Wisconsin, unlike many states, even has a formal system whereby municipalities are reimbursed for the library service they offer to other counties and municipalities, including those municipalities within their own county (provided those towns/cities don't have libraries). The law says that only 70% of the actual cost of the service needs to be covered, but the rest has theoretically been absorbed by state revenue sharing. 2011-2012 is going to be a tough year though, so that theory is probably out the window. But I digress.

Budget cuts make life difficult for all government services, libraries included, but it is a point of pride among library professionals that, in this field, the big naturally reach out to help the small and the small don't hesitate to ask for help.

In an economy/budget cycle like this, I think of the natural networking tendency of libraries like shipwreck survivors sharing body heat in frigid water: they know they have to huddle together to survive and know that a few may not make it, but the closer they hug each other, the better the chance they have to survive.

Here's hoping the water warms up, though. Because even a cluster of fifty will all freeze to death unless help comes. And just now, the horizon is unbroken by any approaching ship.

Great Library Story

Christine Byerly, esteemed Director of the Frederic Public Library, tells this great story:

"Wednesday morning we received a call from Delta Airlines in Georgia. Agent Susana said they had found a carry-on duffel bag with no identification in it, except for a library book with the Frederic Public Library stamp! She must have traced our address to find a telephone number and contact us in order to unite the lost luggage with its owner. We took it from there - looked up the book, called the Ladysmith patron, and she was delighted to learn the bag had been found, since her carry-on held all her traveling essentials. This is yet another example of how important libraries are to our everyday lives! BTW, in yet another kind gesture, we waived the 10-cent overdue fine on our book and renewed it for the patron.

"Wave the banner, go forth, fellow colleagues in libraryland,
Chris"

I just wanted to share. This is the kind of thing libraries do all the time, and we don't blow our own horns enough.

Now you know.

USDA Construction Grant...Show Support?

Here's part of an email I got that you, dear reader, may find interesting. Would you be interested in attending this meeting? If you can't, do you know anyone who would be? If so, email me!


"Informational Meeting March 16, 10-12 at Menomonie Public Library
USDA, as a result of the Stimulus package, has $100 million to give away in grants and loans for public library building projects!

• For towns with populations under 20,000
  
• The smaller the community and/or average income, the higher chance of getting a grant
  
• For new building, renovation, additions
  
• This is a grant to MUNICIPALITIES.
  

To help you figure out the requirements and how to apply for these funds, USDA officials will be holding an informational meeting Wednesday March 16 at the Menomonie Public Library.

You will want to invite:

• Library board members
• Municipal officials "

But, of course, I want to invite anyone who wants to show up and look serious about libraries. So let me know!

Cradle to Grave

Ever stop to think about what makes the library unique among a community's public services? It isn't just the fact that, unlike many, you can take it or leave it...And it isn't the fact that the library is pretty much user-centered in its mission. What makes a library unique is the fact that it is designed to serve the taxpayer across his or her lifespan and through all possible levels of social attainment.

Think about it...suppose a town builds a new jail. It benefits all by keeping criminals off the streets, so it offers safety. But how can the people footing the bill--taxpayers--interact with it daily? Drive by and look at it? Stand basking in the safety of quiet streets?

Or, how about a nice, new high school? Provides safe learning space for our teens, right? Jobs for teachers and principals and coaches and janitors. But if you aren't a teacher, student or a parent of students...

Now, I'm not making the case that jails and schools aren't surely necessary. They are and I thank Providence for them regularly as one who has children and fears psychopaths on the loose. My point is that the direct and immediate investment-to-return turnaround of the library is what makes it a unique service. A child can be a library user from the day of her birth in the ghetto and bring back the last two books she'll ever read on her Glory Morn 80 years later, upon which she woke up in a mansion.

From the cradle to the grave, the library gives back to the citizen. That is what makes it unique...and indispensable.

Think about it.

The Library Business: Win-Win

Traditionally, libraries get busy when the economy stumbles. People start looking for bargains when wallets start getting lighter, and the users of the Chippewa Falls Public Library know that we pack a lot of punch for a great price.

If you do the math, the average resident of Chippewa County pays about $15.00 per year for library service. With that $15.00, he or she gets:

>Internet access
>The newest fiction and non-fiction
>CDs and DVDs
>Civil service information
>Access to educational and enriching children's literature (and toys)
>New and back issues of popular magazines
>Access to the books held in just about any library collection in Wisconsin
>Public programs, such as Summer Reading Club and author visits

I challenge you to find dinner and a movie for one NIGHT for less than $15.00 anywhere these days.

Once again, if you do the math, a weekly user of the library can get hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of education and entertainment back on his $15.00-$20.00 tax investment. Economically, the State of Wisconsin gets about $4.00 back for every one dollar she spends on libraries, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Makes sense to me. I hope you'll think about it now and then...

Support your library, and then USE it. You can't beat the deal.