The unkindest irony

People need libraries more than ever:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/28/recession.libraries/index.html

Local governments are bleeding their libraries dry:

http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_047233527.html
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/02/13/news/local_state/doc499502dceeefb016143206.txt

I respectfully disagree with the sentiment in the CNN article that this recession is a "boon" for libraries. This is a disaster for libraries. I have nothing against more patrons, but to cut library services knowing that people are relying more on their libraries to help them is simply irresponsible.

This represents misconceptions at their most painful:

• You don't cut police because they protect the citizenry from the bad guys.
• Firefighters are heros so they can't be cut, either.
• Librarians shush people and read books all day at taxpayer expense - CUT!

Along with slashing education, shuttering libraries is one the great components in the Dumbing Down of America. Cutting libraries and education may provide some immediate budget relief, but you also get the collateral damage of a dumber population causing a scarcity of ideas that could be used to save money without bloodshed down the road. Don't get me wrong: we need police and we need firefighters to protect us from the worst elements of society. But don't destroy the libraries and schools, and in doing so deny yourself the best elements of society in your community.

I live in an area that is well known for classic conservative thinking. The newspaper believes that their should be equity in pay between the private and public sector, and that public sector employees are overpaid. Again, librarians are a favorite target. We get lumped with bookstore clerks as "similar jobs" between the sectors. Having worked both sides, I can tell you this is a total joke. Bookstore clerks get hired based on the question "Can you work nights and weekends?" Librarians have to get a Masters degree in the field. Bookstore employees work with the collection their are given from some central brain elsewhere in the nation. Librarians need to assess the needs of their community and develop a collection that supports these needs. Bookstores want your money. I cannot imagine a community that reduces their libraries to the status of bookstores, or, even better, they close the libraries and let the bookstores provide. They are tearing out their own souls to save money. If your local library is no more than a Borders or Barnes & Noble, then your community has forfeited its cultural heart.