An Outrage Without Rage?
August 10 2008

It seems insane to me that our government spends billions of dollars to pay for a war built on a lie, a war intended not to “protect” America but to enrich the already obscenely rich. It is no less crazy to use millions on presidential campaigns and conventions that do nothing but confirm already anointed candidates, or to give tax breaks to corporations and individuals fortunate enough to have tax problems. I find it especially sickening that the systems set up to make this country great by educating and enlightening all of its citizens are those suffering the most—the educational system and the library system.

What these two societal entities have in common is that they offer to every member is the opportunity to engage in knowledge, in education, in  bettering themselves and participating capably in the direction of their own nation. Such is vital to any healthy society, but especially important to its more economically disadvantaged citizens. And one of the most essential of all parts of these two systems is books and other reading material.

Just a few days ago, author Ray Bradbury penned a letter—“Is Long Beach at war with books?”—to the southern California city’s Press-Telegram. He was responding to an article about the pending forced closure of the main library because of  a budget deficit. “Libraries are also an essential core public service. How can a major city not provide public access to a civic center library?” he wrote. “Is Long Beach at war with the printed word and books?”

Not war, Mr. Bradbury. Worse than that. Disinterest. Unconcern. A shrug of the shoulders. The budget has to come first. After all, it was you who said that that one doesn’t need “to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” Taking away the access to books is a good start to getting people to stop reading them. Since we are well on our way to replacing citizenship with consumership, this seems a logical step. Libraries? <snort> Who needs ‘em? We got iPods!

Do you know who else would have been outraged? Andrew Carnegie. The library in Long Beach was one of those established with his financial assistance. Carnegie, a steel magnet was by no means a wholly benevolent man, especially to those who had the misfortune to work for him, but he did a lot of good for future generations when he offered to help interested towns build public libraries. Those that expressed interest in a Carnegie library and were willing to meet his requirements—a demonstrated need, a site, and an annual contribution to support its operation—got their libraries. Two thousand eight hundred and eleven communities took him up on the offer, of which 1,946 were located in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 156 in Canada and the rest scattered around the world. They weren’t plain buildings either. Most had unique architecture chosen by the community. The entryway was prominent, with the motto “Let there be light” above it. The stairs leading to the door signified a person’s elevation by learning, and the lamppost or lantern symbolized the enlightenment that could be found within.

Though some of the buildings are gone now, their legacy and their meaning remain. What a shame that such a noble foundation, these homes of learning, should now be in repeated danger of being thrown aside. But they are. Libraries are one of the first things that cities look at when faced with increased costs and diminishing income. But what does it ultimately do to the communities when their libraries are closed or their hours and staff cut? Those who use the library out of necessity are cut out of a vital part of it. They no longer have access to books, to adult literacy programs that teach people to read, to the children’s programs that instill the love of books and reading in new generations, to readers who satiate their reading passion without giving up life necessities?

Why is funding conventions and war and unnecessary tax breaks more important that all that?

In late 2004, the Salinas public library system made news nationwide because its three libraries were going to be shut down due to an $8 million deficit. Salinas, California, is a blue-collar town of 150,000 where approximately 1,900 residents visited the library daily. It is also John Steinbeck country where a number of low-income farmworkers and their families depend on the public library to learn and to read. Fortunately, the attention shamed the city leaders, and a previously-failed measure, imposing a half-cent tax sufficient to fund library operations for ten years, passed. But what about the next time, or the city? Why, oh, why, do not libraries seem worth saving in the first place?

Other recent library closings include one in Hubbardston, MA, which just announced on its blog that it has “no operating budget and no stabilization funds.” It will continue its summer hours through August. But they are paying their staff through a “small reserve funds account and donations.” Any bets on how long they will last? The San Jose Public Library (CA) will be closing all of its branch libraries except for one on Sundays in another budget crisis.

Regardless of where you live, it is likely that your libraries will if not now then in the future be looked at when your city council says, “where will the money come from?” At that time, where will you be? What will you do? Will you take the time to join your Friends of the Library group, to write some letters, to place phone calls, to tart a petition (even if it doesn’t extend beyond your workplace or neighborhood), to send e-mails. And then to follow up, and to attend city council meetings to express your views? Getting out of your chair and out of the attitude that it is someone else’s concern is what it will take to keep libraries open and free to your communities. If not you, then who? If not when needed, then when? Do you really want to live in city or a country that values war more than books? I know I don’t.

This Week. . .
One of the best things about the Internet is its ability to bring to eyes around the world rare collections that are normally off limits to anyone but scholars. Seeing them online (or through books) can never be the same as seeing them in person, but it is far better than never seeing them at all. One of the many museums that offers online exhibitions is the Morgan Library in New York. It is currently showing several that are—there is no other word for it—breathtaking. The Prayer Book of Claude de France is  a tiny manuscript made for Claude, the woman who was crowned queen in the early sixteenth century. You can scroll through the entire 53-page book filled with incredible works of art and text in miniature. Equally stunning is Illuminating the Medieval Hunt, forty-five miniatures from the fifteenth-century manuscript, Le Livre de la chasse. My favorite is Painted with Words: Vincent van Gogh's Letters to Émile Bernard. I own a book with reproductions of the letters and drawings in them so I’ve seen many of them before, but it is a lovely showing if you are a Van Gogh fan.

Until next week, read well, read often, and read on!

Lauren