(This diary is written by an American expat living in the European Union who is a male business librarian who holds a graduate library degree (MLS) and a Master's degree in business administration in marketing)..
Why is the Library the best truly socialized good in America today. That is because no other institution in America, that is a public good offers 100% egalitarian access and services to all of its patrons. This means that a homeless citizen can walk into the library and expect to receive the same level of access and service as the mayor. However this truly egalitarian institution is under serious threat, because libraries today in every state are under threat of having their funding cut or defunded entirely. Therefore this action diary is centered around the fact that our citizens, patrons and library users are asked urgently to share this diary and ones like it, to help us get the word out that libraries are an American success story, and a great investment for our communities, as part of a critical knowledge and information based infrastructure in support of working class progressive American values.
Will your state be the next state to eliminate library funding and lose the freedom of information?
LA Times: Louisiana state library funding has been eliminated
Citing budget concerns, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed a $25-billion budget that eliminates almost $900,000 in state funding for its libraries. In a statement, the governor's chief budget aide, Paul Rainwater, said, In tight budget times, we prioritized funding for healthcare and education. Operations such as local libraries can be supported with local, not state dollars.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/...
Here is why America needs libraries!
Washington Post: U.S. adults lag most countries in literacy, math and computer skills (Published: October 13th 2013) "Policymakers and politicians who wring their hands about the mediocre performance of U.S. students on international math and reading tests have another worry: The nation’s grown-ups aren’t doing much better." http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
What about Prison rate? "Here is what 63% of all inmates are functionally illiterate" Now do you still think Libraries are too expensive to fund, when we consider the true cost of ignorance.
BBC: "Half of the world's prison population of about nine million is held in the US, China or Russia. Prison rates in the US are the world's highest, at 724 people per 100,000."
The mass incarceration rates clearly show that in America per 100,000 incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world, wherein it becomes clear that nearly 63% of all inmates are functionally illiterate according to the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy (2013). If you consider library funding to be too expensive, please consider the cost of ignorance.
How do Libraries support freedom of information? Libraries throughout history have survived censorship, book burnings, natural disasters and even the fires of the great libraries of Alexandria couldn't destroy the library which is a collection of anyone who has ever thought and written. It is a collective memory of the progress and enlightenment of humanity, human history and development in arts, culture, science, history, politics, etc. The budget cutting acts want to take it from you because they've decided that the library is the last truly socialized institution in America. Therefore the libraries have to be starved of funding because socialism in America is a bad thing in their view because it is a public good that benefits disproportionally working class families and this include minorities and women as a group. Some people hate that.
How do you feel about your library closing?
American libraries are among the last truly socialized goods in America. In fact that's the reason I become a librarian is because basically everyone who walks in the door of a library can be treated equally. It doesn't matter whether you're the mayor or unemployed, your library card gives you access to the same materials and services. It's a place where there is social justice and fairness and equal treatment for all and they're in the process of taking it away from you a bit more every day. Libraries are being starved all over America in these belt tightening times in favor of other organizations because the rich don't want to pay their fair share of taxes. This sad reality escapes the attention of most citizens because frankly they have a full plate in America today and they can lose sight of the fact that they're losing their community libraries which can have very tragic consequences.
Please note, while public library budget cuts are an epidemic all over America, the following states are especially hard hit. As we have reviewed the shocking statistical correlation at 63% of adult inmates being functionally illiterate -- with children and youths it is even higher at 85% deemed to be functionally illiterate who interface with the judicial system. The rich don't care about these illiterate adult and youth inmates and alleged offenders. You see it's because they're behind high walls, security cameras and gated communities guarded by vigilantes by George Zimmerman because they think they're not going to be victims of these crimes. They think you're going to be their victims, as average working class Americans and they don't care about you anymore than they do illiterate American adults and youth who have contact with the justice system, that is until they leave their gated communities and are carjacked or worse. The rich will say "it wasn't suppose to happen to me" and they're right. Statistically it's suppose to happen to people like you, good decent working class Americans but I say to you it doesn't have to be that way because full funding of library programs support adult and youth literacy. As such this provides really cheap insurance against crime and the terrible human waste of having over 2 million American incarcerated which is a number far greater then America's active duty military personnel in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps combine. America can't afford to lose this type of potential. Please support adult and youth literacy.
Please see literacy statistics and juvenile court: 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.
Maryland: Summer reading is the latest budget-cutback victim
New Jersey: Public library board readies for municipal budget cuts
New York: Budget cuts forces Queens Library to shutter 14 branches, cut 300 workers and reduce hours
California: L.A. book lovers to protest city library budget cuts
California:Siskiyou County could close libraries
Illinois: Illinois Cooperatives Suffering Massive Service Cuts, Dozens of Lay-Offs
Links are from the American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/...
Did you know that about 20% of American households don't have access to the internet.
To be clear, we're not talking about the number of people who are on old computer and dial-up. We're talking about 20% of the American population that doesn't have access to the internet at all, therefore libraries provide an important access point with in-house computers to connect to the internet. The library also makes available free wi-fi for people with mobile devices, some of whom may have limited or no internet access. To that end, I invite you to watch the one minute video below.
What about that special child in your life?
For example, do you know truly how many books it takes to turn a child, your child, a grandchild, a niece or nephew into a reader for life? No one's home library is going to be big enough to do that. The consequence of not doing it are profound for that child even into adulthood and this has led to some really odd statistics such as the fact that America right now is leading the world in people of middle age in their high school completion rates. To be clear we should always support the advancement of adult literacy issues but clearly these are matters best addressed in childhood, where a young child can learn the love of reading as a habit which will stay with them throughout their lives creating a better citizen, a more informed voter who can't be easily tricked into voting against their own self interest.
How do you feel about censorship?
Most people don't realize they are already suffering from censorship in the matter of ebooks, they are often already censored from being circulated, except to be bought at a bookstore of some type because for the most part ebooks given their licensing already cannot be lent out by libraries. So this is an economic form of censorship. Unlike in the US, EU courts have ruled to make ebooks accessible at least in libraries. Therefore keeping the doors open to a fully funded library in the EU is a higher priority than it is in the US and this fact should be noted because we need to do better in America. EU court rules libraries can digitize books without permission
Starving libraries of funding is an old tried and true tactic of censorship conducted by the rich and powerful throughout the ages. Please don't be fooled by the same old story. As librarians, we are trained to resist censorship in all of its guises and embrace intellectual freedom. When they cut library budgets, they make it difficult and even impossible for intellectual freedom to prevail. We must have intellectual freedom in America or we will lose our tolerance and democracy. That's why your support of your library is so crucial. We can't do it without you. We need your help in order to support the maintenance of our community library collection development and collection maintenance budget.
Censorship is the opposite of intellectual freedom which is the life blood of any democratic society. Without intellectual freedom, progressive America is dead. Intellectual freedom also fights prejudice and intolerance against sexism, racism and discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation and opens up our minds. While this is important for everyone, it is really crucial for children who cannot get access to the proper materials without an adequate collection development budget in their formative years.
Are you one of those people who feel with the internet we don't need libraries any more?
There are people who say, "I have more information I could ever use on the internet, why do I need a library?". The answer is because you have more information than you could ever use, that's why you need a library because most of that information is going to be irrelevant to what you are looking for. What you need what we in library circles refer to as low retrieval with high pertinence. That is to say, you only get a small amount of information that is the most relevant information in satisfaction of your information needs rather than getting voluminous irrelevant information that you can't use which doesn't have the sufficient depth and scope. That's why you need a library that has professional collection development and collection maintenance that mirrors the needs of the community as determined by a community analysis conducted by professional library staff.
In an era of economic library censorship what will that do to America?
Here's the simple truth and it goes to the issue of what kind of society do you want to live in? Do you want to live in a society that practices censorship of information by economic means for the information have nots. Is that the America that we want to leave to the next generation, because here's what that America will look like, the America of censorship. You see the censor says well you don't really need this information anyway, you can trust me. You only need to look at one side of the coin in order to determine its value. When a generation grows up and it never gets to see the other side of the coin, it develops a one sided view. This intolerant one sided view of the world grows racism. It grows sexism, it grows an intolerant view of all people who are different from me and you. It causes people to be homophobic. Causes people to develop feelings of religious intolerance. We know the Tea Party says they want to take America back, but how far back do they want to take America in time?
Libraries offer a lot more then you think!
Libraries also provide internet access to patrons, they provide large collections of music CDs and DVD movie type media and they even have games in their collections for young people or those young at heart. They have wonderful collections of all types of books, magazines, newspapers from around the country and around the world. Anything your library doesn't have, it can get through inter-library loan. In tight economic times, your library is a valuable resource that can add value to the lives of your families and communities. Please consider supporting your library today and ask your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. Working together we can make a difference. We can save America's libraries for ourselves and the next generation. All you have to do is care and care enough to get involved. Care enough to make a difference today.
I will close on this positive note and call to action.
American libraries are a success story that America can ill afford to lose. It cannot be replaced with the sophistry of censorship and it's twin illiteracy which spawns ignorance and hatred as well as bigotry in all forms which include racism, sexism, the hatred of anyone who is different, who prays different, or whose sexual orientation is different. These people keep screaming that they want their country back, and if we let them they will take America back all the way to Jim Crow, back to before women were empowered to control their reproductive systems, because the censorship in all of its guises, be it political or economic always says the same thing which is trust me. The problem with such trust is that these people are human and will make mistakes at the expense of freedom. The American library association and its wonderful freedom to read statement puts forth the proposition that our right to read comes directly from the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States, a constitution that many Americans fought and died to preserve. Will this generation of Americans lose the right to the freedom of information that it provides? Let's remember that 63% of most prison inmates are functionally illiterate and an excess of 32 million Americans cannot read.
The library serves as a children and adult's learning center. It supports and promulgates literacy. It is the last and best socialized institution in America wherein the mayor and a homeless person can expect the same level of service. If you love freedom of information and liberty, I invite you to support access to your local libraries by sharing this information on all social media. Let the call go out and let them hear us everywhere. We are for libraries and intellectual freedom in America today, tomorrow and forever!
PS: Though this library article has ended our library discussion below has just started! Everyone is invited to participate. Please read on because it is in the comments, that is where the action really is. Thank you for reading and sharing this article.
Here's the link to another library diary I wrote that deserves your attention which received over 10,000 Facebook shares on a similar subject matter.
"The library is the last, best socialized institution in America today and you're about to lose it"
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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