Must read and do….

Dear Governor:
I am writing to urge you to rethink the $2.4 million cut in Library Aid you proposed in the 2010-2011 Executive Budget. I am currently a school librarian working in a Title I school in NYC. My students need the instruction in information skills that I offer as a teacher of library and information.
This will be the fifth cut in funding for library services in the last two years and would bring Library Aid down from $102 million in 2007 to $84.5 million in 2010, which amounts to a combined $18 million or 18% reduction over that time period.
I am hard pressed to identify another educational institution that has been cut five times by the state to address its budgetary shortfalls. Another reduction in aid will result in the continued reduction in library services to our community and reduced hours of operation. Some library systems will have to close for lack of funding and many others will be forced to offset the loss of state aid by passing the costs onto local taxpayers.
Many of my students who live in the Bronx (Soundview Branch among others) report that there is overcrowding in their public library when it is open, and that oftentimes on the weekends the branch are closed. Having a school library is key to these students. This is where they access information and are compelled to do their best to be a part of the virtual community so necessary to success in this technological world of blogging and online self-promotion and marketing. How else will these students acquire these communication skills?
These continued cuts will also result in further losses in matching federal funds that have already cost New York State over $2 million in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants.
There seems to be no recognition by state policymakers of the increased use of libraries in every community across the state. Libraries are part of our safety net. They are essential: to helping people write resumes, apply for jobs, and take ESL and literacy classes. Families in our community use libraries to borrow reading materials and other resources, learn about do-it-yourself projects, and enroll their children in early literacy classes.
Library systems are the backbone of our libraries and information infrastructure. They are an example of how the library community has long been a champion and role model for regional cooperation, resource sharing and providing services in a cost-effective and efficient manner that saves libraries of all types and their patron’s money.
Cutting aid to libraries and library systems is not the answer. No other state funded program serves so many people (over 75% of New York households and getting larger) with so little state funding (less than one tenth of one percent of the state budget and getting smaller).
Over the past three years 97% of local library budget referendums have been approved by the voters. Your constituents overwhelming support our local libraries and, you can too by stopping further state cuts to library services.
You have been a great supporter of public education. Please include in that support the support of 21st century libraries, especially school libraries that give students a chance at developing a love of reading and learning, access to books that appeal to their interests and to the Internet, bridging the digital divide. This will help to create a more literate, a more rational and more educated society. We need hard work to create a nation of hard workers. Let’s try to change the ethic and one way is by giving access to information, and a place where students can learn how to learn on their own, the new 21st century library, a nexus of services for those who want to make something of their lives.

Sincerely,

Sara Paulson, NYCSLA President