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April 15, 2010

Busy Libraries Face Budget Cuts

http://www.baristanet.com/2010/04/

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
At 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, Linda Esler, reference librarian at the Bloomfield Public Library, is so busy she can barely take a breath. In the space of a few minutes, she has three kids looking for Civil War books, a woman having trouble printing something and several people waiting for a computer with internet to free up. And it's constant. People call up for mango salsa recipes, come in to print out NJ tax forms and ask for help filing federal financial aid forms.

And now, part of Essler's job is letting people know that Governor Chris Christie is making Draconian cuts in the state's library budget. A bright yellow bulletin board contains fact sheets and postcards from the Save My NJ Library campaign. The campaign is also on Facebook, and more than 10,000 people have joined.

Is Essler afraid that speaking out about Christie's cuts, on the job, might bring the governor's wrath down on librarians -- as it has with teachers? "This is how it will affect us," said Essler. "I'm just presenting the facts."

According to Save My NJ Library, Christie's budget calls for a 74 percent decrease in funding for statewide library services -- with the cuts targeting transportation for interlibrary loans and electronic databases. State funding for individual libraries is being cut by 50 percent.

Robert White, executive director of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System or BCCLS, which includes Montclair, Bloomfield and Glen Ridge as members, is even more strident. He thinks Christie is going after libraries and librarians because of their mild-mannered reputation. "They think that librarians are wimps," says White. "I think he is bullying anybody and everybody he thinks he can get away with." But librarians aren't wimps, White argues, and neither are the senior citizens who are libraries' top patrons. "Do not trifle with these senior citizens," he warns.

He points out that libraries gained friends during recent storms when so many libraries provided internet access to thousands of people who lost power.

The Glen Ridge library is also participating in the fight, distributing these postcards for patrons to send to their legislators.

Wayne Bernstein, a patron of the Bloomfield Public Library, says he uses the library because he can't afford monthly internet charges. "Christie's cutting everything left and right and there's going to be nothing left," he said. "He should leave the libraries alone. You need libraries. Find something else to cut."

In a related matter, Bloomfield's library board meets tonight on the matter of the abrupt sacking of library director Gian Hasija.

Posted by Debbie Galant on April 14, 2010 3:41 PM

Posted by tumulty at April 15, 2010 9:50 AM

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