The 15 libraries of Jackson County, Oregon have now been closed for over 2 months.
No storytime for kids, no books, movies or cd’s for the residents and no internet access for the people most in need.
Where are we today?
Still no help from Washington D.C.
There was an emergency appropriation in the initial Iraq War bill that the President vetoed and I am not sure what incarnation survived the recent bill the President signed off on.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is quoted as saying back in April:
“The President may veto the bill more than once, but eventually the legislation must pass to secure additional dollars for the troops. But I must say, we are very well positioned. We have gotten tremendous bipartisan support.”
You know Wyden must be working hard on this one. After all he is married to Nancy Bass of the legendary Bass family that has owned the Strand Bookstore in New York City for 80 years. He now has books in his blood.
Also, if everyone is so sure the money is coming you would think they could find a way to keep the libraries open. Doesn’t our own government run on a deficit?
There is also a crazy option on the table to outsource the library services to a company in Maryland. Basically, the community owns the buildings and the inventory but everything else is run from Maryland.
What’s next? A Libraries of America Free Trade Agreement (LAFTA). This is beside the fact that the outsourcing of most services has proved to be more harmful than constructive for most communities in the long run.
In the meantime three of the Jackson County school districts, Medford, Phoenix-Talent and Ashland school districts, have decided to keep their school libraries open one day a week during the summer to provide reading materials for their students.
Something is better than nothing.
Article on the outsourcing option by Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett at Crosscut
Story by Paris Achen at the Mail Tribune on the school districts opening their libraries
Book Patrol’s thread on the Library closures