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July 12, 2010

Victory for libraries

http://www.northjersey.com

The Record
Editorial
July 10, 2010

THIS WILL still be a long, hard summer for many public libraries around the state. But it will not be as long and hard as it might have been.

A month ago, libraries were staring head-on into the face of drastic budget measures, a 74 percent cut pushed by Governor Christie. In the end, thanks to a last-minute budget compromise, and perhaps a dose of common sense, the cuts adopted weren’t nearly as draconian. The final number was a 43 percent cut, or a reduction of about $6 million from last year.

While still harsh, the new budget does allow libraries, which also receive local funding from town to town, to retain many core services.
Patricia Tumulty, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association, said the money saved in the budget talks will help libraries maintain three important services that had been slated for the ax, including the popular interlibrary loan and delivery program, access to the libraries’ large electronic database, and, importantly for hundreds of thousands of state residents now looking for jobs, basic Internet access.

And the news got better this week, with the announcement of grant awards of $6.6 million to state libraries. That includes $5.1 million in federal grant monies, part of the second round of the economic stimulus bill, as well as $1.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
There are still people in government and foundations who realize what a vital role libraries play in New Jersey communities, and especially the lifeline they provide in these days when more than 440,000 state residents are still looking for work.

Indeed, a big part of the grant monies will be used to address that need directly. The $5.1 million will go to Thomas Edison State College, affiliated with the New Jersey State Library, and will be used primarily to shore up broadband infrastructure in libraries across the state. The money will also be used specifically in the area of job research.

For instance, every library across the state will be able to get staff training to help the unemployed and the under-employed, and the money will also be used to train patrons on job searches.

In all, the grant money will be used to add computers at 124 libraries and to upgrade broadband capabilities at 79 libraries, and provide job search assistance, employment skills, workforce development programs and other online resources at 365 libraries across New Jersey.
"This grant will help to pave a road to economic recovery for our state," said New Jersey State Librarian Norma Blake. "New Jersey job seekers are facing a job market in which access to computers and broadband Internet is a basic requirement for job searches, employment applications and workforce skills training."

Providing access to job-related services has always been part of the mission of the public library: to educate and inform, to help persons, of any walk in life, to better their circumstance, to find another door open when a first one closes.

Maybe in the old days it was a place where a recently laid-off worker could skim the classifieds in the local newspaper to see who was hiring. Today, of course, it’s more involved than that. Many employers accept only online applications.

Thanks to these Internet upgrades and continued jobs services, as well as the undying commitment of thousands of librarians across this state, the unemployed of New Jersey still have one more valuable resource to draw upon as they look for work.

Posted by tumulty at July 12, 2010 12:42 PM

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