The SurRural Librarian

January is the season for budget cuts.
The largest public library in my area is facing large cuts which were reported recently in the local paper. Since then, there have been some lovely letters to the editor in defense of the library.

Details on the Cuts From the Brattleboro Reformer article:

The Selectboard is considering $43,000 in cuts to scale back overall budget increases and lower property taxes.
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For the library, it would mean cutting back on the amount of books and magazines it buys, slashing operating hours and increasing fees and fines.
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Out of 250 magazine subscriptions, 60 of them would be eliminated — many of which are used by low-income residents — along with two databases
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Reducing staff hours by 15 hours a week would force the library to cut back the hours it is open
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To generate an additional $12,000 in revenue, the library planned to also increase nonresident annual fees from $40 a year to $48 a year and daily late fees would increase from 10 cents to 15 cents…

Get a load of this letter, it’s poetry:

Editor of the Reformer:

When I have a child, I want to take her to the library.

Here, I want to tell her, is our history. Here is “Harry Potter” and “Goodnight Moon.” Here’s Ben Franklin, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Beethoven’s Second, Satchel Paige.

Your homework is here, and the beginning of poems. The cover letter you’re trying to write? The chance to check e-mail? That political blog? All here.

There is no advertising here, no logos on carpets, no babes swilling beer on the stairs. Here you can sink to your knees in the stacks and get lost in Thurber.

You can cry over Naylor. You can take Shakespeare home.

Every world becomes possible here, I want to say, but also on cold days you can rest in a chair with the paper, even when you’re broke, staying warm and informed.

People love books here. They are the keepers of our evolution in megabytes and ink.

Inside a library I decided that if I would defend anything, I would defend this. I want my child to know this American place.

The Brattleboro Selectboard is considering cutting $43,000 from Brooks Memorial Library’s budget. The library directors have said that this would reduce magazine subscriptions, new titles and hours of operation, and potentially make it harder to receive state grants. Even if Brooks raises its fees and fines, fewer people using the library may offset that revenue.

I know Brattleboro’s budget is pinched on every side. I ask all involved to find a way to protect the library for the great and general good, and for my someday child.

and this…

Editor of The Reformer:

Excuse me — Who, exactly, determined that the Brooks Memorial Library is “non-essential”? Certainly not a library user.

Anyone who has tried to get a reservation to use one of the Internet-accessible computers must realize that many town residents are dependent on the library to give them necessary access to the world.

Brooks library has a top-notch professional librarian, a trained and skilled staff who knows where to find what you want, databases you cannot afford to buy on your own and a reputation as one of the best libraries in Vermont. The main room, the childrens’ room, the meeting room, the local history room are crowded. The First Wednesday lectures are packed.

Why are libraries always the first to be cut or eliminated? Such easy targets they are — it takes no thinking to dismiss their many benefits which are not as obvious as items like dump trucks. Only when they’re gone do you realize how much you need them.

“Knowledge is the most important asset an organization can have” (Wall Street Journal). For “organization” read “town,” and believe it.