Libraries? We don't need no stinkin libraries!

BDBoop · Jul 3, 2012

Louisiana state library funding has been eliminated - latimes.com

One of those parishes is Concordia, located on the Louisiana-Mississippi border. Library Journal spoke to the Concordia Parish Library's director, Amanda Taylor.

“There’s no longer a food stamp office; there’s no longer a social security office. In our rural parish, a lot of our people have low literacy skills and very few computer skills. They come to the library because all of that has to be done online. There are some offices in some bigger areas but there’s no mass transportation and a lot of our people do not have transportation to a place that’s two hours away. A lot of our people have children in the military and they come to email their children that are all over the world on these bases. And almost all of the companies require you to do a job application online, even if it’s just for a truck driver who doesn’t need to be great at computer skills, so it is very important that we offer this service."

Concordia formerly got $12,000 per year from the state, which it used to “keep up all of the maintenance [on its 52 PCs], buy new software, and to buy new equipment as needed.”

With that money gone, Concordia plans not to buy anything new, and hopes all its old equipment keeps working. Maintenance costs will have to come out of the materials budget. In the meantime, Taylor is already working on getting the funding restored. “We are already talking to our legislators about the next budget,” she said. “We are going to work really hard to make the legislators understand how important it is in these rural areas because citizens depend on the public library. We’re going to hope for the Legislature to open their eyes to what we do every day.”
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More here.

Update: Louisiana Eliminates State Aid to Public Libraries

Louisiana Division of Administration spokesman Michael DiResto told LJ: “The FY 13 Louisiana budget includes two federal technology grants for the State Library for the purchase of e-books ($1 million), which local libraries can use through the interlibrary loan program, and to provide statewide technology training and equipment for public libraries ($782K) – for a total of almost $1.8 million, which more than makes up for the $896K in direct state funding.”

However, those federal technological funds from the BTOP program are earmarked specifically for providing training, laptops for citizens to check out, and accessible workstations for the blind. As such they cannot be distributed to local libraries to maintain, upgrade, or replace the in-library desktop PCs and servers that were previously covered by state aid. Increased access to ebooks may help make up for lack of collection development dollars to some extent, but since 34-43 percent of Louisiana residents don’t have Internet access at home, ebooks can’t completely replace the lost dollars for print materials, especially in poorer areas.

LJ caught up with several of the smaller Louisiana libraries which are hardest hit by the cuts. Mary Bennett Lindsey, director of the two-parish Audubon Regional Library, operates three libraries and a bookmobile. Lindsey told LJ, “we were getting almost $50,000 [in state aid], which is 10 percent of our budget.” Of that, Audubon allocated $30,000 for books—$12000 more than the system would otherwise be able to spend. “Which isn’t an awful lot when you divide by three, but it’s enough to keep up with the current bestsellers and buying an encyclopedia once in a while,” she said. Audubon used the balance of the aid for technology: replacing 15 computer workstations and covering the portion of the library’s new server which is not funded by the Federal erate program.

With that aid gone, “I’m just going to pray,” Lindsey told LJ. “We’ll just have to cut back on books and hope we get through. If our server goes down or the switches go down, it’s going to have to come from somewhere. It’s not going to come from utilities; we’re barely paying people above minimum wage so it’s not going to come out of salary, we may have to cut hours.”
Click to expand...

And further;

**MISSING LINK ADDED** http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/bobby-jindal-libraries-we-dont-need-no-stin

No libraries for you, little people of Louisiana! Bobby Jindal just signed a $25 billion dollar budget that cut all state funding for libraries, which wasn't exactly a huge porkfest to begin with ($900,000). He says it's just not a huge priority for the state, citing health care and education funding as first priorities.

Of course, let's not forget that education funding means sending lots of state money to church and corporate-run charter schools in Louisiana. What a guy.
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/snip

Yes, poor people rely on libraries for access to the Internet, which is how they search for jobs, learn, read, and other things. Shutting off their Internet access while replacing paper books with e-Books is particularly cynical.
Click to expand...

/snip

On the other hand, Jindal has cut taxes six times and is a Grover Norquist favorite. So there's that. Three cheers for oligarchy!
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I'm pretty much speechless. Not like a rural library can depend on fund raisers - nobody there has much money to speak of. Everybody that's happy this is happening, what's your solution?

zzzz · Jul 3, 2012

Signs of the times. The focus is more on keeping the big guys happy and the lower classes subservient. Access to the internet is becoming a must have today, not only for jobs and payments but for governmental services. Take that away and you take their voice away.

Katzndogz · Jul 3, 2012

This is what it looks like when a government runs out of money. A very rural area, with very few users, is naturally going to have its services ended with the money going to support services in more popular areas.

uscitizen · Jul 3, 2012

Interesting the postal service is going away and it is linked into so many consumer protection laws and the internet have almost no protections for it's users.

BDBoop · Jul 3, 2012

Katzndogz said: ↑

This is what it looks like when a government runs out of money. A very rural area, with very few users, is naturally going to have its services ended with the money going to support services in more popular areas.
Click to expand...

If they have 52 pc's, they don't have "very few users." Try again.

Katzndogz · Jul 3, 2012

This is no sprawling metropolis. As the article states it is a rural area.

“There’s no longer a food stamp office; there’s no longer a social security office. In our rural parish, a lot of our people have low literacy skills and very few computer skills. They come to the library because all of that has to be done online. There are some offices in some bigger areas but there’s no mass transportation and a lot of our people do not have transportation to a place that’s two hours away.

Services in rural areas are the first to go, in order to keep the services in more populated areas running.

BDBoop · Jul 3, 2012

There was more than one article. Did you read them all.

NLT · Jul 3, 2012

BDBoop said: ↑

Louisiana state library funding has been eliminated - latimes.com

One of those parishes is Concordia, located on the Louisiana-Mississippi border. Library Journal spoke to the Concordia Parish Library's director, Amanda Taylor.

Theres no longer a food stamp office; theres no longer a social security office. In our rural parish, a lot of our people have low literacy skills and very few computer skills. They come to the library because all of that has to be done online. There are some offices in some bigger areas but theres no mass transportation and a lot of our people do not have transportation to a place thats two hours away. A lot of our people have children in the military and they come to email their children that are all over the world on these bases. And almost all of the companies require you to do a job application online, even if its just for a truck driver who doesnt need to be great at computer skills, so it is very important that we offer this service."

Concordia formerly got $12,000 per year from the state, which it used to keep up all of the maintenance [on its 52 PCs], buy new software, and to buy new equipment as needed.

With that money gone, Concordia plans not to buy anything new, and hopes all its old equipment keeps working. Maintenance costs will have to come out of the materials budget. In the meantime, Taylor is already working on getting the funding restored. We are already talking to our legislators about the next budget, she said. We are going to work really hard to make the legislators understand how important it is in these rural areas because citizens depend on the public library. Were going to hope for the Legislature to open their eyes to what we do every day.
Click to expand...

More here.

Update: Louisiana Eliminates State Aid to Public Libraries

Louisiana Division of Administration spokesman Michael DiResto told LJ: The FY 13 Louisiana budget includes two federal technology grants for the State Library for the purchase of e-books ($1 million), which local libraries can use through the interlibrary loan program, and to provide statewide technology training and equipment for public libraries ($782K) for a total of almost $1.8 million, which more than makes up for the $896K in direct state funding.

However, those federal technological funds from the BTOP program are earmarked specifically for providing training, laptops for citizens to check out, and accessible workstations for the blind. As such they cannot be distributed to local libraries to maintain, upgrade, or replace the in-library desktop PCs and servers that were previously covered by state aid. Increased access to ebooks may help make up for lack of collection development dollars to some extent, but since 34-43 percent of Louisiana residents dont have Internet access at home, ebooks cant completely replace the lost dollars for print materials, especially in poorer areas.

LJ caught up with several of the smaller Louisiana libraries which are hardest hit by the cuts. Mary Bennett Lindsey, director of the two-parish Audubon Regional Library, operates three libraries and a bookmobile. Lindsey told LJ, we were getting almost $50,000 [in state aid], which is 10 percent of our budget. Of that, Audubon allocated $30,000 for books$12000 more than the system would otherwise be able to spend. Which isnt an awful lot when you divide by three, but its enough to keep up with the current bestsellers and buying an encyclopedia once in a while, she said. Audubon used the balance of the aid for technology: replacing 15 computer workstations and covering the portion of the librarys new server which is not funded by the Federal erate program.

With that aid gone, Im just going to pray, Lindsey told LJ. Well just have to cut back on books and hope we get through. If our server goes down or the switches go down, its going to have to come from somewhere. Its not going to come from utilities; were barely paying people above minimum wage so its not going to come out of salary, we may have to cut hours.
Click to expand...

And further;

/snip

Yes, poor people rely on libraries for access to the Internet, which is how they search for jobs, learn, read, and other things. Shutting off their Internet access while replacing paper books with e-Books is particularly cynical.
Click to expand...

/snip

On the other hand, Jindal has cut taxes six times and is a Grover Norquist favorite. So there's that. Three cheers for oligarchy!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much speechless. Not like a rural library can depend on fund raisers - nobody there has much money to speak of. Everybody that's happy this is happening, what's your solution?
Click to expand...

Most people in LA cant read anyhow...

BDBoop · Jul 3, 2012

And so what if it's a rural area?! 52 pc's mean there were a LOT of people in that rural area.

Jindal is Grover Norquist's favorite puppet, and LA is suffering because of him.

CrusaderFrank · Jul 3, 2012

Why the fuck does it cost $500,000 a year to operate a small library?

I remember when libraries were staffed by volunteers

Going to check the article to see if they show the budget

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