Editorial: Libraries Are Not a Frill

It's ironic that just as the American Library Association issued its annual State of America's Libraries report—during National Library Week, April 13–19—proclaiming continued high use of public libraries and the benefits accruing to communities from them, we got more news about the tough budget cycle some libraries face. The country's economic woes are not hitting local and state budgets uniformly—some libraries are doing quite well—but libraries, a crucial public agency, are suffering from a diminishing tax base exacerbated by the subprime crisis and a long, costly war.

Potential cuts couldn't come at a worse time, not just for those who use libraries regularly but for the society as a whole. Library by Design, the supplement accompanying this issue, shows libraries poised to take a leading role both in building green facilities and in educating their communities about sustainable living, as the reality of climate change filters throughout our culture. In fact, instead of lowering the bar for library funding, libraries should be receiving a bigger piece of the pie.

That's the implied message from Carlos Manjarrez, who cowrote the Urban Libraries Council's studyMaking Cities Stronger while at the Urban Institute. Speaking at the recent Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis (as reported in the May 1 issue of LJ), he said that libraries “really weren't communicating” well their critical contributions, among them services to job-seekers and small businesses and their roles as anchors for new development—and, we would add, for improving property values.

In a similar vein, Minneapolis's Mike Christenson (Department of Community Planning and Economic Development) alluded to the part libraries play in workforce development and in a literate citizenry. Given the grave challenges to the U.S. economy, where the median income for a family of four fell during the latest boom (from $61,000 in 2000 to $60,500 in 2007) and the rate of “not employed” or jobless (as opposed to those who have lost their jobs) is the second highest since World War II (13.1 percent for men age 25–54), we need libraries more than ever.

In my neck of the woods in New York, that's certainly true. Nevertheless, responding to the losses tripping up Wall Street, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has targeted the city's three public library systems (Brooklyn, New York, and Queens) for an eight percent cut, jeopardizing not only materials and staff but the six- and seven-day-a-week service New Yorkers welcomed back in 2007, after five long years of reduced hours. His action counters an agreement reached with City Council president Christine Quinn last year to end the annual budget “dance” between the mayor and city council and instead guarantee funding from year to year.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, in Bridgeport, CT, where a $16 million city budget deficit looms, Mayor Bill Finch, calling libraries “not essential services,” proposed a 25 percent cut in library funding that would close the system's three branches (see News, p. 17). In a city where the disparity between rich and poor is among the widest nationwide, his move is truly shortsighted, as the head of the Bridgeport library board, James O'Donnell, pointed out. “Our libraries, not the schools, serve the needs of the other 83 percent of our citizens, the group that actually pays the taxes...,” O'Donnell said. “The library is the only service in the city that assists the education of all its citizens.” And in the New York Times, columnist Susan Dominus eloquently described New York libraries as “free...parks with a brain, providing education brilliantly disguised as leisure....”

Whatever the situation in your community, whether there is demand for cuts or not, all of these arguments are worth stating. We must continue to make the case for libraries, using all the statistics and anecdotal evidence at our disposal. We must use every opportunity both to shift and strengthen perceptions about libraries as well as emphasize their centrality to the health and wealth of our society.

Libraries are not a frill.