The financial crisis has caused a lot of withdrawals at the public library.
A few years ago, public libraries were being written off as goners. The Internet had made them irrelevant, the argument went. But libraries across the country are reporting jumps in attendance of as much as 65% over the past year, as newly unemployed people flock to branches to fill out résumés and scan ads for job listings.
Other recession-weary patrons are turning to libraries for cheap entertainment — killing time with the free computers, video rentals and, of course, books.
Last Friday, there was a particularly long waiting list of 157 to check out the popular vampire novel “Twilight,” by Stephenie Meyer, from a branch of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Library here in Tracy. This central California town has been ravaged by mortgage foreclosures, and area libraries report a surge of traffic. Shamika Miller huddled over a laptop at the Tracy branch. Laid off from her job as a bookkeeper at Home Depot more than a year ago, Ms. Miller, 29 years old, says she has visited the library “if not every day, every other day” since October to check job listings with her computer.
the library is government funded. Perhaps this is an excess of spending?
Watch it, John. I work at one. 🙂
In our area:
The main library is down half-a-dozen employees, and cannot hire more until the hiring freeze is lifted.
The branches have had to close Mondays in addition to the regularly closed Sundays, and have cut back their hours during the week.
Printing is ‘strongly urged’ to be limited to ten pages per patron per day. If one is printing off a resume and cover letters, that is not a lot.
Desperately needed new computers cannot be purchased, some of the computers do not even have a front usb port! And I’m not sure, but none have Office 2007 (some might), and are still running Windows XP.
The printers are awful. I had to reprint my resume (with permission) on another computer/printer station because the roller left a black line on the page, and crinkled the paper.
The University and the Community College BOTH have had to institute a hiring freeze on all employees, including the unfilled Library staff.
Lastly, new reference books are in short demand. Most of the monies for book purchases go to popular fiction (such as “Twilight”), while medical reference materials are outdated on the shelf. One I saw had a copyright of 1990. Of course there is always the internet, but a lot of older patrons are not comfortable using the internet.
Jim Elliot <>< Out of work librarian in Florida
The real problem is that there are no cookies allowed in the library!
For a video expose, check out the link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlkplvYdgA
True most libraries have “no food or drink” signs in the library.
However, I’ve been to libraries that
*have a ‘news section’ where newspapers, magazine and tvs are placed with CNN, etc. playing. Coffee was allowed in this section.
*coffee carts in the lobby, although not allowed inside.
*university libraries that allowed coffee and food on the main floor, but not on the upper floors where the majority of books were kept. The first floor was designated group study, and when I was there, I noticed several groups with pizza and drinks going over class notes.
*Teen centers in the library that allow pizza, drinks, and popcorn on ‘movie nights’
*one California library was contemplating having a wine and cheese bar in part of the library.
Unfortunately, libraries, unlike bookstores, have to absorb the cost of damaged materials when spills occur. With the current budget crisis. That means discarding reference materials and NOT replacing them. Spills and food in trash cans also attract bugs and insects, which, when they can’t find the food, go after the books for the glue and bindings.
Hi Jim,
My post was meant as a tongue-in-cheek stress reliever. It was supposed to be funny. Thanks for your detailed response and I hope I did not raise your ire. I completely understand the need to protect the reference section, but books that are checked out…well, they are subject to…oh, I shudder to think! ;^)
Good luck in the job hunt. I have spent many wonderful hours in libraries. We just had a budget vote for more funding for our local library, and although I voted “no” on school budget increases and road work costs, I voted yes to fund renovation at our library. They are that important to me. (We home school and we already have very high property taxes and gasoline taxes.) By the way, all three measures passed.
I was teasing, of course.
In fairness, I believe libraries are possibly the most important government institutions there are, and a good example of how the government can support liberty.
Tired,
I took no offense, no ire was raised.
As to what happens to checked out books, I don’t have to IMAGINE. I’ve seen it, and you would not like to!
I went out to get the books from the book drop one day and found that someone had dumped their KFC scraps there. Fortunately, the cup of soda landed right side up, and nothing spilled onto the books, but the chicken bones! Thank goodness they were in a ‘box’.
By the way, that’s mild. You should see what people use for bookmarks!
Of course we get the patrons who bring in a book — dripping wet — and say “It was that way when I checked it out.”
Ah, the stories I could tell.
[i]“When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.†— Isaac Asimov[/i]
I just sent my resume to the Bush Library in Texas. It will be interesting to see what, if any, response I get. 🙂