Susan Patron - Editorial - Saving the L.A. Public Library

Libraries across the country are under siege from budget cuts.  This week in Los Angeles the city council will talk about funding and the future of the L.A. Public Library.  You can help.  Go to Save the Library http://savethelibrary.org 

I asked former Los Angeles Librarian and 2007 Newbery winner Susan Patron to write an editorial on the subject.  The topic being near and dear to her heart, Susan graciously agreed.

When he was president of the Board of Library Commissioners of the Los Angeles Public Library, Gary Ross made an apt analogy about ways our government enables us to travel.  You apply to the feds, he pointed out, to get your passport.  You apply to the state to get your driver's license.  But if you want to travel the universe itself, you apply to the city for a library card.

And that library card is free.  Imagine the brilliant concept that we mostly take for granted:  the city rounds up some librarians.  They turn out to be incredibly driven and focused people, intent on building comprehensive, viable collections of materials— everything from board books for babies to travel guides, from recorded books and DVDs to electronic databases, materials in a myriad of languages.  The librarians and support staff knock themselves out to maintain an inviting space in every community:  branch libraries with community rooms, computers, and study and seating areas.  In the very heart of LA is one of the country's great Central Libraries, renowned for its art, architecture, collections, and programs. 

Those librarians will go to great lengths to defend our right to read anything we want to read, and to make sure we have access to materials others try to suppress.  They devise children's programs to fuel a desire to read.  They offer ways for teenagers to enhance their college applications, for adults to improve their job-seeking portfolios, and for those who cannot read to learn to read.  Librarians are not content merely to maintain excellent collections and offer relevant programs:  they also want to help us find exactly what we need, even if we ourselves are not quite sure what that might be.  They know ways to search online that leave Google in the dust.

These are services that go to the core of our humanity:  literacy, enlightenment, self-improvement, community.  The public library defines our civility; how much we value libraries is a measure of our civilization.

Go to http://savethelibrary.org/ to find out how deeply in trouble the Los Angeles Public Library is.  Please help if you can.  Our collective soul is at stake.

Comments

[Joseph Taylor]

Nobody could have said it better. Thank you, Susan and Tina. I would add that libraries are also for writers conducting research for films, books, and magazine pieces, nonfiction and fiction. The ripple effects of budget cuts are truly enormous. They affect us all.

[Greg Pincus]

Thanks Susan and Tina for raising the alarm. Libraries and librarians offer so much that we take for granted. And as we get more and more information, we need to make sure that there are people around and places available for giving it all context. Here's hoping that politicians faced with tough choices make smart ones.

[Sylva Natalie Manoogian]

As a colleague of Susan's at Los Angeles Public Library (we began our professional careers as children's librarians together), I heartily support her eloquent expression of concern. Public Libraries are irreplaceable; they are indispensable; we must speak out in their defense.

[Carol Tanzman]

Every time I find a book that I want to read on the library shelf, or reserve a book and get that "book's in" email, or find the exact piece of research material that I need, I marvel at the wonders of the library! And librarians. Fingers crossed that this crisis can be averted.

[Lisa Yee]

Thanks for this, Susan. Like many, I was a library kid. It was (and is) my second home.

[Carl in Charlotte]

Hey I'm Carl at the Boys Rule! Boys Read! blog in Charlotte NC. We've got the same problem here. Check out yesterday's post about this at http://jaja-cas.blogspot.com
Thanks!

[Lee Wind]

This is so well said! "How much we value libraries is a measure of our civilization." Brava, Susan! And thanks, Tina, for giving Susan this platform.
Hopefully, if enough voices are raised, the libraries (and all they do for us) will be not just spared, but honored!
Namaste,
Lee