“Libraries are like bread — they are a staple of the human diet. They aren’t sexy like sports teams. But they don’t leave communities like sports teams. As a state, New Jersey has bent over backwards to accommodate sports franchises. Most of these teams don’t even acknowledge the state they play in on their uniforms and merchandise. But when it comes to a commitment to public literacy — the currency of success — there is little fanfare. There is little notice.”—Alfred Doblin, “$10.4 Million is a Small Price to Pay for Literacy,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ), May 10, 2010
From Philadelphia to Boston, one of the first targets for government budget-cutters in the recession, it appears, would be library systems. Record editorial-page editor Doblin points out, with sharp and unanswerable logic, the skewed priorities shown by the administration of Gov. Chris Christie in cutting state funding for libraries by $10.4 million, while the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority—with a fifth of its employees making more than $100,000 per year—lines up asking for nearly triple that amount to bail itself out of its current deficit.
Particularly outrageous is the 74% reduction in interlibrary loan services—this, at a time when the governor was calling across the board for “encouraging consolidation of services.”
Doblin’s otherwise excellent article leaves out just one important fact: at a time when job-hunting services are more essential than ever, Christie proposes to reduce the effectiveness of an institution that has become busier than ever because of their resources for this.
After Christie targets the Sports Authority, he might turn to his own administration, where he is spending $400,000 a year more on staff salaries than his predecessor, Jon Corzine—including 10 more people making $100,000 plus a year.
Then, and only then, should he even begin to think about cutting anything else—and libraries should be far, far down that list.
From Philadelphia to Boston, one of the first targets for government budget-cutters in the recession, it appears, would be library systems. Record editorial-page editor Doblin points out, with sharp and unanswerable logic, the skewed priorities shown by the administration of Gov. Chris Christie in cutting state funding for libraries by $10.4 million, while the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority—with a fifth of its employees making more than $100,000 per year—lines up asking for nearly triple that amount to bail itself out of its current deficit.
Particularly outrageous is the 74% reduction in interlibrary loan services—this, at a time when the governor was calling across the board for “encouraging consolidation of services.”
Doblin’s otherwise excellent article leaves out just one important fact: at a time when job-hunting services are more essential than ever, Christie proposes to reduce the effectiveness of an institution that has become busier than ever because of their resources for this.
After Christie targets the Sports Authority, he might turn to his own administration, where he is spending $400,000 a year more on staff salaries than his predecessor, Jon Corzine—including 10 more people making $100,000 plus a year.
Then, and only then, should he even begin to think about cutting anything else—and libraries should be far, far down that list.
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