{"id":12680,"date":"2011-02-21T23:34:22","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T07:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=12680"},"modified":"2011-02-21T23:34:22","modified_gmt":"2011-02-22T07:34:22","slug":"public-libraries-are-a-socialist-threat-that-should-be-dismantled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=12680","title":{"rendered":"Public libraries are a socialist threat that should be dismantled"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least, that’s the gist of a comment<\/a> left by “Mrs. Lemming” on an NPR story about ballot measure L, which will restore public library service in Los Angeles to six days a week. (The name leads me to believe that the comment is a joke, although the rhetoric is unfortunately not too far removed from some of the anti-public-service bile that’s been bubbling up here and there.)\u00a0 Right now our libraries are closed on Sundays and Mondays, and 28% of the LAPL staff has been let go.\u00a0 This situation has led the LA Weekly to dub us the City of Airheads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Look, if you think that libraries are awful because poor people use them, or that you shouldn’t have to contribute to them because you prefer to buy your books and you’re positive you’ll never, ever have occasion to use a public library yourself – fine, whatever.\u00a0 I’m not going to try to convince you here.<\/p>\n

If, however, you believe it’s generally better to have public libraries than to not have them, but you’ve heard that Measure L is going to lead to massive cuts in the Los Angeles police and fire departments, I’d like you to consider that a) the current LA police chief is in favor of the measure, and b) police and fire receive 70% of city funds, as opposed to the library’s 2%.\u00a0 I don’t want to set this up as library versus police, because the two institutions are supposed to complement each other in maintaining a healthy society, but it’s good to keep the measure in perspective.<\/p>\n

I’d also like to call attention to the LA Times’ (immensely unpopular) opposition to Measure L<\/a>, which echoes much of the same rhetoric that’s widely used to romanticize traditionally female occupations (teaching, motherhood, etc.) while denying them financial support.\u00a0 “We love libraries,” says the Times, “and consider them a core part of a city’s responsibility… But what if the alternative [to keeping hours reduced] is to hire fewer police officers, or to cut gang-intervention efforts, or to make new businesses wait longer for permits, or to close down graffiti-removal programs?”\u00a0 There are a few problems with this logic.\u00a0 First off, it assumes that (traditionally female) librarians do nothing in terms of gang and graffiti prevention – and, indeed, I’ve seen comments claiming that libraries are all about pleasure reading for adults, and nothing more.\u00a0 If you believe that, then it’s an easy jump to the assumption that it’s okay for (traditionally female) librarians to lose their jobs, when it’s not okay to hire fewer (traditionally male) police officers.*\u00a0 Secondly, it’s not clear that these scary things are actually going to happen if we raise the library’s budget from 0.0175% of property taxes to 0.03%.\u00a0 We’re talking about a 0.0125% reallocation, not a massive shift in funding priorities.\u00a0 Finally, the Times goes on to say that the mayor and city council (almost all of whom support the measure) “should be able to find a way” to come up with the funds to restore service “without being forced to.”\u00a0 But unless the Times is suggesting that we raise taxes – and we all know how wildly popular that idea usually is – I’m not sure why they think that Measure L will lead to cuts in other areas while some other amorphous solution won’t.\u00a0 It sounds to me like they want to have it both ways – they don’t want to come across as library-haters, but they do want libraries to remain a low priority.<\/p>\n

Luckily, for every Mrs. Lemming (genuine or not), there seem to be twenty residents who are outraged at the thought of voting against funding libraries, which leads me to be cautiously optimistic about Measure L passing.\u00a0 I submitted an op-ed to the Times which, alas, was rejected, but they did publish one by librarian and author Susan Patron<\/a>.\u00a0 Yay!\u00a0 I’ve included my op-ed below the fold.<\/p>\n

Oh, and, uh, in case this isn’t clear yet: if you live in L.A., please vote yes on L!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What’s Good for Libraries is Good for Los Angeles
\nA Very Smart and Compelling Op-Ed by Julie<\/p>\n

When I tell people I\u2019m a student in UCLA\u2019s master\u2019s program in library and information science, the reaction I most often get is, \u201cYou mean you need a degree to be a librarian?\u201d<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t mean to be rude \u2013 most often, the question is asked by someone learning, for the first time, that library schools exist.\u00a0 We all know teachers need training and certification; we know that if you want to be a business executive, an MBA helps.\u00a0 Yet we have a perception that few, if any, specialized skills are needed to run a library.<\/p>\n

I suspect it\u2019s because much of the most important work in a library goes on behind the scenes.\u00a0 Library users don\u2019t normally see the acquisitions, cataloging, program development, and collection maintenance that happens in the back offices.\u00a0 They don\u2019t see us carefully studying search habits so that we can improve our services, or revising our cataloging codes to accommodate digital media.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the work of the credentialed librarians.\u00a0 A library also requires a robust staff of trained assistants, aides, computer technicians, security guards, and others to run smoothly.<\/p>\n

Some in Britain, in response to austerity measures, have called for all-volunteer public libraries.\u00a0 Volunteers are incredibly valuable, but you can\u2019t ask them to take over the work of full-time staffers.\u00a0 Library users might not know what librarians learn in their masters\u2019 programs, but anyone who spends time in a public library can tell you that it\u2019s so much more than a place to keep books.\u00a0 It\u2019s where children and teens get help with their homework, where adults look for jobs or learn to read, where citizen researchers pore through scholarly databases or explore the history of their city.\u00a0 The library is the public\u2019s portal for information access much more sophisticated than a Google search.\u00a0 And the library has real, documented benefits for society: multiple studies have shown that for every dollar invested in a public library, a city\u2019s economy receives six dollars in return.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s so crucial that residents of Los Angeles vote yes on Measure L.\u00a0 The Los Angeles Public Library is the third largest public library system in the US, but currently, only 0.0175% of our property taxes fund it.\u00a0 This is why service has been cut to five days a week and almost a third of its staff has been let go.\u00a0 Measure L would increase that allocation, over a period of four years, to 0.03%.\u00a0 That\u2019s still a miniscule amount, but with it, LAPL could bring its vital services back up to six days a week and hire back many of the librarians and other staff members it\u2019s lost.\u00a0 This issue is so important that Chief of Police Charlie Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have both endorsed the measure.<\/p>\n

If Measure L fails, though, the situation may grow even more dire: some librarians predict that library hours could drop to four days a week.\u00a0 Four days<\/em>.\u00a0 That means more kids on the streets rather than reading, more adults without resources for job hunts.\u00a0 It means fewer books for you and your children.\u00a0 When the library is attacked, everyone loses.<\/p>\n

Measure L requires no new taxes and won\u2019t siphon any meaningful amount of money from other city services.\u00a0 Instead, it will help preserve one of human civilization\u2019s most wonderful institutions: a place where any person can access a wealth of knowledge and a staff of trained professionals eager to serve.\u00a0 And for free!\u00a0 It takes a lot of work to run a good library \u2013 but anyone who\u2019s used a library to find a job or pass a class will tell you that it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

Who wouldn\u2019t want to keep such an amazing resource healthy?<\/p>\n

_________<\/p>\n

* This would be a great place to analyze the widespread, vehement belief that it’s preferable to wait for people to commit crimes and then arrest them, rather than prevent crime through public services and education – which itself is usually founded on the belief that there’s just a certain type of person<\/em> who’s going to commit crimes no matter what, so what’s the use of even trying to intervene?\u00a0 Furthermore, what does “crime” even mean?\u00a0 Did you know Angela Davis wrote this great book on prison abolition?\u00a0 But it’s so very late and I’m so very tired, and all I want is for my branch library to be open on Sundays and Mondays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least, that’s the gist of a comment left by “Mrs. Lemming” on an NPR story about ballot measure L, which will restore public library service in Los Angeles to six days a week. (The name leads me to believe … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-and-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12680"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12714,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680\/revisions\/12714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}