In light of...

"My books are very few, but then the world is before me - a library open to all - from which poverty of purse cannot exclude me - in which the meanest and most paltry volume is sure to furnish something to amuse, if not to instruct and improve." ~Joseph Howe, 1824



In light of recent articles on KCRG's website and on the Des Moines Register's website regarding proposed library funding cuts at the state and local levels, I feel the need to share with you all my vision of libraries and what we really stand for.

After reading user's comments to these articles online, I feel like there are some very common misconceptions about how we work and are funded. I also feel like many don't realize the relevance and importance of our existence in communities.

And so, without further adieu, here is the *official* Whiny Librarian's vision of public libraries. *cue dramatic drum roll please*

I have a passion. A burning passion. That passion is public libraries. Of all the institutions in the world, public libraries to me, are the singlemost important institutions that a society can have. (Did I mention that I'm passionate about public libraries?! Oh...it gets better...) Libraries provide more than just books. More than just the internet. We provide access. Unfettered access to all information, to everyone.

We offer a place to freely exchange thoughts, opinions, and ideas. This is truly the basis for public libraries, the ability to exchange views without bias and without censorship. No matter how controversial it may be, it is welcome in a public library. Where else in society is it acceptable and even encouraged to practice such exchanges?

A library is truly democratic principles at their finest. And we, as librarians, are the sole protectors of those rights. This is why we are activists. This is why we fight against those who want to try and diminish our importance. This is why we fight against those who want to take away our freedom of access to information. We fight because we truly believe and understand just how crucial and important our place in society is.

We are supported by local and state tax dollars. Because of this we provide free services and access to materials to everyone. I've read a lot of comments recently from those who believe that public libraries should charge entrance fees and membership fees. Would you charge each child an attendance fee at a public school? How about for the fire department to make a call to someone's house? Again, these are free services supported by tax dollars. Not everyone may need to use them, but as a democratic society we support them and the need for them. This stands true for public libraries as well.

My hope is that libraries will never lose their status in society. I also hope that future generations will continue to see the importance of supporting such institutions. I hope that our communities will see the libraries as living, growing and changing. Because of this, I also hope that our communities realize the neccessity and importance of adequate funding for us as well. We are so vital to our communities and serve so many roles. We are needed.

Finally, I will leave you with a quote by Malcolm Forbes:

"The richest person in the world - in fact all the riches in the world - couldn't provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library."

Help us!

I want to again remind you all of a few e-mails that I have received in the last few days from the Iowa Library Association and the State Library of Iowa regarding possible state budget cuts. The governor is proposing an 18% cut to state library funding for the FY 2009 budget. This would be a cut of roughly $1,119,000! The breakdown for those cuts would be as follows: The State Library would lose $135,000. The Library Service Areas (Like East Central Library Service) would lose $259,000. Finally, Enrich Iowa would lose $725,000.
Any budget cuts that affect libraries are serious, and trust me, it will not be easy for the State Library and the LSA's to swallow losing that money. But the real kicker of all of this is the $725,000 from Enrich Iowa. Enrich Iowa is a direct state aid program for Iowa's public libraries. Many libraries throughout the state receive aid from this program. The amount varies on the population size of the city. For example, if this budget cut goes through, we at HPL will lose roughly $2,200. I know that seems like a fairly small amount, but let me give you a little perspective...that $2,200 is almost what I get a year in my budget for purchasing new CD's. Ouch.
Larger libraries will see more of a cut. Waterloo is looking at roughly a $15,000 loss, Marion is looking at roughly $7,000 and Cedar Rapids is closer to $20,000. For a library in the position of Cedar Rapids (who is already facing another round of massive budget cuts at the city level) this state funding can provide crucial. At the opposite end, smaller libraries may rely on their share of this funding for helping offset the costs of new computers or even materials. Again, losing even $800 out of their budgets can be very detrimental to their services.
So please, do your part to help out all libraries in the state of Iowa and contact the governor at http://www.governor.iowa.gov/administration/contact/ and also your local legislators at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/findleg/ Let them know just how important your libraries are to your communities. We, as librarians can only do so much...the rest is up to you!

Just a little escape...

In case you wonder what we really do at our computers all day! Ha!

Winter Reading Programs...

are here!! We have two winter reading programs currently going on here at HPL. And by george, you should be really excited about them...because we certainly are!!

Our Adult Winter Reading Program is called "Cold Nights, Hot Reads." It runs from January 21-March 3. This program is for those 18 years and older. When signing up, you'll receive your reading log and a free book of your choice from our secret stash. All you have to do is fill out a little slip for each book you read with your name, phone number, title, and a little blurb of what happened. Drop your slip in our little trash can "drawing bin" at the front desk and then sit and wait desperately by your phone for us to call you to tell you that you've won! Oh...you want to know what the prizes are? Well, after much groveling, begging, and pleading by yours truly, I managed to con Starbucks into giving us some lovely prizes ranging from a pound of their delectable coffee to mugs, etc. Yes Virginia, there is a Coffee-Claus!

Our Youth Winter Reading Program is called "Polar Pages." It runs from January 21-February 28. This program is for preschool through high schoolers. Stop in for your reading log and get started! For each hour read by independent readers and each half hour by read-to-me readers, you will mark off a picture. When you complete a level you get a prize! There are four levels--which means four different prizes! The prizes range from coupons to local restaurants to nifty bookmarks, etc. If you happen to complete level four, then you will receive a free book! That Alicia is pretty good about coming up with prizes and even better at recommending good books! So stop in and see her for more details!

Hope to see ya'll soon!

Depressed and whiny...

I feel so very depressed today. My Packers lost in overtime to the stinkin Giants. We should have had that win...hands down...and Brett *literally* threw it away when he threw an interception in overtime that resulted in the Giants getting good enough field position for a field goal. (Quiet sobs...)


Maybe I'll be able to talk about it more later. But right now it's just *gulp* too painful.



And then there's just the usual whiny bitterness about the weather. I realize it's winter and it's Iowa and we get cruddy winter weather. But I'm starting to think that if I have to clean the "wintry mix" off my car one more time I may need to seriously consider being committed. It's just getting to be a little ridiculous! At least I can still find humor in the situation...



Anyone else feel like a goner? :)

I have to start off this blog post with a big cheer for my Green Bay Packers! I was so proud of them this past weekend as they beat the pants off the Seattle Seahawks! (That's what you get for leaving, Mike Holmgren! Ha!) And...thanks to the Giants beating the Cowboys, we now get homefield advantage for the NFC Championship game!! Whooooo Packers!!



Alright, enough trash-talking...onto more serious subjects...like library abuse. Our library has been abused a lot lately. First there was the vandalism. We had two windows broken in our building. One in Pat's office and the other in the community room. To me the most frustrating thing about that whole situation was that it was a library. It's not like we're a large corporation that's putting people out of jobs and ruining lives. It's not like somebody would need seek revenge by "sticking it to the man". We are a library. We live and thrive on serving our communities. We accept and welcome all ideas and all walks of life. For someone to vandalize our building is not only disgraceful, it is simply disgusting. What did we ever do to deserve such an act against us?



Another act of library abuse that has recently hit our library is the theft of four Harry Potter books-on-cd. The interesting thing about this theft is that whoever happens to be doing it is only stealing the discs and then leaving the case stuffed in the easy reader's in the children's section. As I discussed in an earlier blog, we have had a lot of problems with stealing as of recently. It is difficult not to take it personally when we have items stolen from our collection. For one, the replacement cost can be pretty substantial (especially with books-on-CD). For another, it is free to check the stuff out!! Where else in this world can you check out stuff for free?!?! *sigh*

Finally, in another act of library abuse, the govenor is proposing an 18% reduction in state library funding for his fiscal 2009 budget. Per an e-mail from Barbara Peterson, President of the Iowa Library Association...I am passing this information on to you all in hopes that you will come out and support your local libraries. We need to make not only our city governments aware of what budget cuts do to our libraries, but our state representatives must be made aware as well. Here is what we received in our e-mail:

"As you probably know by now, the governor's FY 2009 budget proposal cuts state library funding by 18%! That is $1,119,442! This would cut the following: State Library $135,000; Library Service Areas $259,442; and Enrich Iowa $725,000. The $725,000 cut to Enrich Iowa came from the infrastructure fund known as RIIF. The governor's proposal removes $1,000,000 from RIIF. $50,000 of that had gone to the LSAs, and the remainder ($950,000) to Enrich Iowa. Then, only $225,000 is put back in the general fund as a replacement for the $950,000 in RIIF funding that had been going to Enrich Iowa. This results in the $725,000 net loss to Enrich Iowa.

As you can see this will affect libraries in a big way. The overall budget has a 6% increase in spending and libraries are suffering an 18% cut.

The end result would be that services to all of Iowa's library users would be
devastating. The only way that you as an Iowa Librarian or Library Advocate can
make a difference is to first contact the Governor at

http://www.governor.iowa.gov/administration/contact/ or chet.culver@iowa.gov,

letting him know you are opposed to this and what the consequences would be for your
library. It is my understanding that if you use the Governor's website to contact
him, you will eventually get an answer.

Second, email or talk with your local legislators. Again, you can find that information at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/findleg/. The more contacts the governor and the legislators receive, the more attention this issue will get. We want them to know that the governor's budget cuts for libraries needs to be changed.

As Mike stated in his alert, we need to be adamant, yet polite. Thanking the
governor and the legislators for past support is always important. Also, please
have your Trustees, Friends, and other library supporters contact the governor and
local legislators. Mike's Alert Part II stated, "In the last year, 64% of your
representatives' constituents held library cards and, collectively, made some 16
million visits to public libraries. This is a fact that needs to be heard by both
the governor and local legislators."


So please, do your part to help us out!

Now is the time to come together...

Welcome to 2008! Weeee!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted, between the holidays and taking a little time off, there really hasn't been a whole lot of time to blog. (Or breathe...) But you know I can't go long without a good whiny rant!


I'm not sure if you've been following the situation in Cedar Rapids with the budget cuts and the library...but to say the least, it has not been pretty. Sadly, it doesn't appear that it is going to get better any time soon. Last night the Cedar Rapids Public Library held a town meeting to discuss what is going on with the budget situation, as well as to rally support for the library.

First I must explain, although we are part of a Metro Network with Cedar Rapids, we here at Hiawatha get our funding from the city of Hiawatha. Technically speaking, budget cuts at Cedar Rapids do not mean budget cuts for us. However, whatever happens with Cedar Rapids will eventually trickle down and affect us here too. So, we here at Hiawatha have good reason to be concerned with what is going on downtown.

With the previous statement in mind, I also chose to attend the meeting for two other reasons: (1) I am technically a resident of Cedar Rapids and (2) I am a former employee of CRPL who still has many friends and former co-workers that I am concerned about.

The meeting started off with a wonderful report by the Vice President of the CRPL Board of Trustees, Susan Corrigan. She spoke eloquently about the vision of the Cedar Rapids Public Library and its mission to serve the community. She also explained the effect that the previous budget cuts have had on the library and what future cuts may do to the library. She stated explicitly that this is not a library budget problem, but a city budget problem...a very important point. It was a very impassioned speech and one that I think had a very strong effect on those attending. We then heard from patrons about their experiences with the library and their testimonials about why it should be spared from further budget cuts.

We also heard from several public officials at the city, county and state levels. This is where things got a little tense. From my vantage point and opinion it seemed like a lot of finger-pointing and excuses. We were told that the city is trying to work with the state who is trying to work with the city, but that neither one had come up with a good solution as to how to solve the budget problems. But the one thing missing from these responses by the public officials? The library!

I think we all can acknowledge that the budget problems being faced by Cedar Rapids are complicated and messy. That they are difficult and at times, very painful. However, our concern last night as citizens was about our library. Not one of those public officials shared their vision for what they felt the library should be for the community! Not one of them recognized the sacrifices that were being asked of the library board and the staff!

This, to me was extremely dis-heartening. I felt that several of them didn't even understand the basic principles of what it means to be a public library. One public official even suggested possibly using usage fees as a means of obtaining more funding for the library. Seriously?! Seriously?!!! Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having a public library?? A little snippet from the American Library Association's mission statement might help clear this up for that public official:

ALA will promote efforts to ensure that every individual has access to needed information at the time needed and in a format the individual can utilize, through provision of library and information services.

Goals:
All individuals have equal access to libraries and information services.

Instruction in information use is available to all.

Government information is widely and easily available.

Library collections are developed, managed, and preserved to provide access for users to the full range of available knowledge and information.

Access to information is facilitated by bibliographic organization.

Library use is high.

Fees are not a barrier to library access and service.

*source-- http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/policymanual/mission.htm#mission

I truly felt that several of the public officials failed to see the importance and significance of what public libraries do for the communities that they serve. But alas, I suppose this whining by me is not doing any good either. This does, however, provide me the opportunity to drive home the real point of this blog...now is the time to come together. I really hope that this town meeting last night will be a catalyst for change on both sides of the fence.

I hope that the public officials who attended last night will be moved to learn more about their public libraries and take the time to visit them, tour them, and educate themselves about them. I hope that they take the time to learn about the ALA Library Bill of Rights and the mission of the American Library Association. I hope that they look to the State Library of Iowa for suggestions and guidance.

I hope that those 380 some odd people who attended last night seek out their friends, families, and neighbors...anyone who may listen to them and advocate on behalf of their library. I hope that they continue to support the library and their programs. I hope that they write and call their public officials and continue to voice their concerns about what further budget cuts will do to their library.

But most of all I hope that both sides can come together and recognize just how very important libraries truly are.

Finally, a quote from a poem called "Library" by Paul Engle that was in the agenda from last night's meeting:

"Libraries are alive, walls tremble, books bounce on their shelves. In terrible times enter, your life comforted by their lives."