Not for long.
"The passions run high as libraries’ fate debated" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | March 10, 2010
One man said that he was a prison librarian while serving time in Walpole and that closing any library branches would be far worse than any of his crimes.
Nothing like extreme hyperbole to bolster your case, huh?
“I may have robbed a bank, but I have never burned a book,’’ said the man, John McGrath. “And that’s what you do when you close a library branch, because they are never going to reopen.’’
Well, MOST OF US haven't done either so what makes you the agenda-pushing spokesman for the Glob, huh?
Giving the bank some of its own medicine, huh?
Passions ran high yesterday as nearly 400 people packed a lecture hall at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square for an emotional and at times raucous public meeting about the fate of the constellation of library branches that dot the city.
When City Council President Michael P. Ross stepped to the microphone at one point, the crowd roared, and people shouted, “The public goes first,’’ and “Let the people speak.’’
They won't hear you, but....
Ross relented, and a constant stream of people took turns, many denouncing a proposal by library officials to close up to 10 neighborhood branches to consolidate resources and change how they provide services in the face of a $3.6 million budget shortfall.
“It’s outrageous that it has come to this,’’ said Yann Poisson of Dorchester. “Only a fifth-term mayor could dismiss libraries as a 21st-century anachronism, something that can be replaced by
Hey, YOU REELECTED HIM!
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Some at the meeting, though, accused Mayor Thomas M. Menino of trying to divide the city and pit neighborhood against neighborhood.
That is WHAT POLITICIANS DO, haven't you heard?
They implored the library’s board of trustees to increase fund-raising, cut other costs, and twist arms on Beacon Hill and at City Hall until someone coughs up the money.
TAXPAYERS?
Donald Haber, who is active in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library, put a larger question to library administrators.
“Is the underlying issue really about money’’ asked Haber, who fears that his branch is on the chopping block because it is not handicapped accessible. “Even if a miracle happened and you got your $3.6 million, would you still be looking to close branches?’’
YUP!
ALWAYS IS here in AmeriKa!
Board chairman Jeffrey B. Rudman said that if the money materialized, the discussion would dramatically change. But at the same time, Rudman asked, would it be so abhorrent to close a few doors to concentrate staff, new programs, and additional computers?
“At the end of the day, if we had to close one or two branches, would that be the same immorality?’’ Rudman asked. “I think we face some really hard choices.’’
The suggestion from Judi Andelman to sell some of the library’s priceless antiquities elicited a strong response from Rudman, who scoffed at the idea of “hawking the Gutenberg in New York.’’
Rudman pointed out that selling rare manuscripts, such as the 3,700-volume personal library of former president John Adams, is not as easy as it seems. The library recently sold a rare piano, he said, and in the time it took he “could have learned how to play the piano.’’
Andelman remained unconvinced. “I still think they should sell the Bible,’’ she said.
Hey, we have PLENTY of MONEY for BANKS and WARS though!
Library administrators and Menino have talked about transforming the library for the digital age and moving services out of buildings by increasing offerings on the Internet and sending librarians to day-care centers and nursing homes.
Yesterday, the library’s president, Amy E. Ryanreferred to librarians as “information navigators’’ and compared the system’s current technology to an abridged encyclopedia, not a multivolume set.
Using another metaphor, Ryan said, “We can’t take a car designed in the 1970s onto today’s information superhighway.’’
But many in the audience bristled at the frequent references to technology. They spoke about their branches as refuges, gathering places, and focal points for their communities.
Besides, WHERE will the HOMELESS go?
“Not the computers, not the high-tech, not the downloadables,’’ Maria Rodriguez said. “Libraries are about books and librarians. I didn’t hear anything about that in your vision.’’
Must not be in the political playbook, 'eh?
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So what is the answer?
The Friends of the Boston Public Library staged a read-in yesterday at a branch in Roxbury and announced a plan to try to avert library closings by asking voters next year to approve a tax increase to fund the city’s libraries.
Unreal. That's all they know here.
Related: Massachusetts Meals Tax
The Massachusetts State Budget
So WHERE DID ALL THOSE INCREASED TAXES GO anyway?
Into the pensions and health plans of looting legislators and state officials as well as to a profitable Hollywood, biotech and green tech losers, and interest payments to banks for state debt.
The organization’s president, David J. Vieira, told a crowd of about 50 supporters at the Egleston Square library that if city and state officials cannot fully fund Boston’s 26 neighborhood library branches by the end of April, he will launch a Proposition 2 1/2 override initiative with hopes of putting it on next year’s municipal ballot.
Yup, and the agenda-pushers get front page coverage in the Metro section!
If passed by Boston voters, such an initiative would allow the city to override the state-imposed cap on property tax increases, which is currently set at 2.5 percent.
“I think we’ve been mainlining on outside resources for too long,’’ said Vieira, who represents Friends groups citywide. “We’ve got to fund our own resources here. We have to look to the citizens, we have to look to our neighbors, we have to look to ourselves.’’
Now hand over more money you don't have.
The Friends are nonprofit groups formed to help city libraries by providing private-sector resources and volunteers....
So they can push for a public tax increase?
Pffft!
Well, that ruckus got me kicked out of the library!
Related: Patrons fear for fate of Boston library branches
I thought a library was supposed to be quiet.
"Disquiet outside Boston Public Library; Branch-closing fears lead to tactful protest" by Patricia Wen, Globe Staff | March 29, 2010
They are lovers of libraries, the kind of people who opt for intellectual strategy, not inflammatory scenes, to fight the city’s threat to close some of its beloved neighborhood branches.
And so it was yesterday, just before the main headquarters of the Boston Public Library opened at 1 p.m., that nearly 100 protesters gathered outside the Copley Square building with petition sheets and statistical charts to go along with their “Don’t Close the Book on Us!’’ placards and their chants of “Save our branches!’’
And when they took their signs and stats inside the library, they left the chants outside, to honor the historic place as a sanctuary of silence.
“We have to do this quietly,’’ David Vieira, president of the Friends of the Boston Public Library, told the gathering....
Of course, then no one hears you.
Some protesters have gotten used to it (hi).
With scores rather than hundreds of participants on a sunny but chilly day, organizers decided at the last minute to consolidate the rally at one library entrance, not two, to add to the visual impact of their one-hour demonstration....
Oh yeah, THAT will do a WHOLE LOT!
WAR PROTESTERS do that EVERY SATURDAY around here and then pat themselves on the back when its over.
And DON'T DARE BRING UP 9/11 down there or you get the shhhhh, shhhhh!!!
Just like at the library.
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I think I will see if the have any books by David Ray Griffin the next time I go to the library.
Btw, readers, I am FOR KEEPING ALL the LIBRARIES!
This state pisses away $3 million a day to banks; I'd rather the money go to a library even if no one ever used it.
"Library releases data on traffic at branches; Statistics will shape plans for cutbacks" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | April 1, 2010
A clearer picture emerged yesterday of which Boston library branches may be in danger of closing as the city released a wide range of data for each location, quantifying foot traffic, wireless Internet sessions, and attendance at public programs....
The release of the data marked the latest step in a process that could end with as many as eight shuttered libraries in the face of a $3.6 million budget shortfall.
I know where you can find $3.6 million.
Trustees have labeled the nine largest facilities as “lead libraries’’ to anchor a newly configured system, which will keep each of those locations open. That leaves 18 branches at risk of closure after an April 9 vote by the library’s board of trustees....
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And let's give the agenda a little push.
SEATTLE — A third of Americans 14 and older, or about 77 million people, use public library computers to look for jobs, connect with friends, do their homework, and improve their lives, according to a new study released yesterday.
The finding confirms what public libraries have been saying as they compete for public dollars to expand their services and high-speed Internet access: Library use by the general public is widespread and not just among poor people.
But.... the study was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by the University of Washington.
Related: Did Bill Gates Make the Bats Sick?
I'm sure he means well.
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And I didn't even check out a book.
Who reads books or newspapers anymore anyway?
