David Hoffman Speaks Out: "Don't close book on state library"

One of the former directors of the State Library of Pennsylvania, David Hoffman, has written a very welcome public indictment of governor Rendell's proposed gutting of the State Library.

In the April 2nd 2009 issue of the Patriot-News, (online here), he explains all the problems that will result - problems both for government and for Pennsylvania's citizens - from the budget slashing Rendell wants. Then Hoffman concludes by pointing out that the Library is administratively in the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and

Its function is certainly an educational one, but with the enormous problems facing public education in Pennsylvania today, the priorities of the department's leadership must be in guiding the school districts as they prepare today's student for the many roles they will choose following formal schooling.

Perhaps now is the time that the General Assembly should consider moving the library from the Department of Education and making it a legislative agency once again.

Now there's an idea! Sort of like the Library of Congress. It is certainly worth exploring (has the current secretary of education even been in the State Library?), though probably it can't happen in the next month or so and save current positions or revive our zeroed out book budget.

Pennsylvania Library Association Lobbying Help

The Pennsylvania Library Association's Executive Director, Glenn Miller, has sent out a letter (via e-mail on March 31st) to members saying (in part) that:

On PaLA’s behalf, along with our lobbyists from Greenlee Partners and some local librarians, I have been meeting with state senators and state representatives and staff, both in Harrisburg and in the district offices of some legislators. In general, we can conclude several things from these conversations thus far:

1. A number of you have contacted your legislators already and those messages are heard. Many more voices need to be raised.

2. The concerns we express about losing federal LSTA dollars clearly seem to ring true with legislators at a time when Pennsylvania is trying to maximize every dollar from Washington.

3. Legislators recognize the truth in our argument that cutting library funding in the midst of a recession is a really bad idea since libraries are busier than ever serving people hard-hit by this economy.

4. No legislator understands the rationale behind the proposed devastating 50% cut to the State Library.

The bad news is that the economic projections for next year’s state budget suggest that the deficit might be as high as $2.6 billion for Pennsylvania. Since under the constitution, each new state budget is required be balanced, this looming deficit presents a major challenge.

Did you note his point 4?? We, of course, don't understand the rationale, either. And they, of course, have to present a balanced budget. Just because they don't understand the rationale, that doesn't mean they will overturn the proposal. It's a no-win situation.

But thanks, Glenn, anyway. Thanks for trying. Maybe your lobbying will save a few of our jobs and thereby help a few more Pennsylvanians with their information needs.

Our SLOP Bucket Sighted

A blog titled "The Way of Improvement Leads Home" has commented on this blog, back on the 3rd of March.

The blogger, a Messiah College professor named John Fea, comments that

"I have blogged on this before and will blog on it again real soon. Unfortunately, historical and cultural institutions are often the first to go during times of economic crises. This is a shame, since during difficult times these kinds of institutions remind us of who we are as a people. Our shared past offers a source of strength and communal identity in times of trial."

He also issues an appeal to readers to speak out on our behalf.

Thank you!

Bless You SLA!

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) "sent a letter to Governor Edward G. Rendell on 17 March 2009 expressing strong concern over the proposed 50% budget cut for the State Library of Pennsylvania."

That's as reported Tuesday in the SLA "Public Policies Connections" blog.

It calls Rendell's budget slashing "short-sighted" and expresses the SLA's desire for postponing any huge cuts until there is

a detailed plan is produced and vetted by qualified information and policy experts who understand the critical nature of maintaining valuable services and access to information for current and future users.

The blog further reports that

SLA asks that Governor Rendell and his leadership team provide a detailed plan of how the State Library will function after such an extreme budget cut. SLA believes a more fully funded library budget will serve the interests of government, business, and private citizens and will save more money in the long run.

Good luck with that!

Here is a link to a PDF version of the March 17th letter from the SLA Chief Executive Officer Janice Lachance to Pennsylvania's governor Rendell.

Again, thank you Special Libraries Association!

American Library Association Publicity

The e-newsletter of the American Library Association, 'American Libraries Direct,' for March 11th 2009 recognizes the plight of the State Library by publishing a link to last Thursday's article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. You have to scroll way down to the "Seen Online" section, but it's there.

They don't offer any commentary of their own on the situation here in Harrisburg, but at least it's more national publicity.

Go Back and Read the Comment

Please scroll down and read the comment that a reader in Virginia sent in to yesterday's March 11th post about the Centre County Times editorial!

It's both heartening and disheartening at the same time.

Centre Daily Times Editorial

Today's Centre Daily Times has an editorial titled "Higher priority given to trinkets" that speaks in behalf of saving the State Library.

The editorial begins

Imagine a Pennsylvania with no state library. Benjamin Franklin could not and, as clerk of the Assembly, was instrumental in creating it in 1754.

Ed Rendell apparently can, however, and his proposed budget, if passed by the current General Assembly, will be responsible for closing it in 2009.

Libraries, local museums — our history and our culture — these are the “nonessentials” targeted for elimination as lawmakers try to deal with a $2.3 billion revenue shortfall and a deepening recession.

While Rendell’s spokesman touts the governor’s “well-known” record of support for libraries and education, his priorities — revealed by how he proposes to allocate the state’s resources — speak otherwise.

Among the sacrifices, the apparently acceptable casualties about which Rendell wants to hear “no whining,” are life-enriching resources and programs that enable us to read — and find meaning in — more than just the Dow Jones industrial average.

That's pretty much what we feel, too.

The "trinkets" in the title, by the way, refer to the fancy desk sets handed out to legislators when they were sworn in earlier this year. Did you hear about that? Our legislature paid "$17,700 for holy books and souvenirs — a Harrisburg 'tradition,' repeated again and again and again" in January because "each member of the General Assembly, just for showing up and getting sworn into office, received a Bible, Torah or Quran and a nifty desktop pen set fashioned from a 3- inch chunk of coal." I mean, really? Some of our elected officials have to have a closet full of these from all the previous times they've been sworn in.

It would have been a little thing, sure, but they could have skipped that expense this year.

The editorial also mentions the Dan Surra hiring fiasco. And it wraps up with a plea that should be echoed across the state:

Lawmakers could start by paying for the commemorative items to which they feel entitled, a drop in the bucket, perhaps, but trends must start somewhere. Then they could tap into the state’s rainy day fund — money set aside for desperate times exactly as these. And they most certainly should eliminate the legislative slush fund they maintain to hold as leverage in the annual budget battle with the governor.

And if taxes have to be levied on smokeless tobacco and cigars, and on those who stand to profit greatly — and damage the state’s precious wild lands in the process — by extracting natural gas from the rock layer a mile below ground, so be it.

Then, when politicians boast about their support for indispensibles that enrich lives other than their own — as being among their priorities, we might believe them.

At the Library we're just trying to enrich people's lives, not our own bank accounts.

Governor Makes a Mistake!

This just in! (Well, just in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer.)

"Budget proposal had error on state library staffing"

Amy Worden, whose story earlier this week caught national and international attention (see posts below), shares the following news with the world:

Apparently, doomsday has not arrived at the historic Pennsylvania State Library.

In his February budget address, Gov. Rendell proposed chopping library funding in half, from $4.84 million to $2.39 million, a steep cut in a lean budget laden with across-the-board reductions.

But yesterday, Rendell said a figure published in his budget proposal that projected a 90 percent staffing reduction was wrong.

Rendell said he would never allow staffing to get to the point where the library would have to close.

He said the library's 50 percent cut would mean a similar staff cut - from 56 to about 28 employees. But more jobs could be preserved if savings can be found in other areas, said his spokesman, Chuck Ardo.

One of Pennsylvania's four major research libraries, the state library was founded in 1745 by Benjamin Franklin. Across the street from the Capitol, it houses the state law and education libraries, and has one of the largest newspaper collections in the country.

State Librarian Clare Zales said she was assessing the role of the library with the goal of trying to balance materials preservation and access.

Nevertheless, she said, with fewer employees, hours and services will be reduced.

Library advocates say there is little doubt the cuts will have a "negative impact" on services such as interlibrary loans and research requests.

"It's not an operation loaded with people sitting around doing nothing," said Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association. He said the smaller cuts would be "clearly a step in the right direction, and we welcome it."

As to the budget book figure, Ardo said, "We are trying to determine exactly where that number originated and how it got into the book."

Can any of you spell "backpedal"?

We all know how much Rendell loves libraries. He would never allow this kind of staff cut. Well, big whoop!

Should we breath a huge sigh of relief? READ THE ARTICLE, folks. Sure, our governor and Chuckles are mystified how the Complement section of the budget message decided (apparently all on its own) to whack 50 or 51 of our staff members. But he's only here going back to 'oh, maybe half of you are headed for unemployment!' I shouldn't think so.

This same article quotes an impartial library advocate (Pennsylvania Library Association executive director) as saying, "It's not an operation loaded with people sitting around doing nothing." You bet. So when half of those busy people are tossed out by the governor's backpedaling budget, the remaining half won't be able to pick up all their work because we're already too busy.

Does anybody else wonder why it took all the way from February 4th to March 6th for the governor to notice such a huge mistake in his budget?

Does anybody else wonder why the Department of Education's human resources folks have also been assuming the 90% staff cut was correct?

Does anybody else wonder what other sorts of retribution the governor will throw at us for exposing this particular budget goof?

Does anybody else wonder whether the announced end-of-March closing of the Resource Center over at the Dept. of Education building will now be un-announced?

Our Story Hitting the Big Time

After the Philly Inquirer article (see yesterday's post), the story got picked up by the Associated Press and spread abroad . . . and we mean abroad.

Thank you, International Herald Tribune, the Global Edition of the New York Times, for printing the AP release under the heading "State news of national interest" on March 6th 2009. In the section for the East, we are one of two stories:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Under Gov. Ed Rendell's budget, the 263-year-old Pennsylvania State Library's appropriation would be slashed by more than half to $2.3 million for the year starting July 1. Library Commissioner M. Clare Zales said she can "keep the lights on," but may have to scale back the current Monday-Saturday operating schedule. The library's 56-person staff is likely to shrink.

We also made USA Today under the state news section for March 6th (where they print one news story from each state in 3 or 4 lines).

Harrisburg's Patriot-News posted it online at 3/5/2009, 12:36 p.m. EST under the headline "Budget cuts likely to hit Pa. state library hard."

The Lewistown Sentinel joins the chorus with the same headline on March 5th.

Then there's WHTM ABC TV channel 27 in Harrisburg.

And the Times-Leader from Wilkes-Barre, "northeast Pennsylvania's home page."

And Butler County's "Butler Eagle."

There is also "Library Stuff: a Weblog by Steven M. Cohen".

And probably others. Thank you ALL for publicizing our plight.

Philadelphia Inquirer Article

We're hitting the big time now. Toward the end of this week, Amy Worden of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article in their paper headlined "Pa. state library faces budget cut". The online version is dated March 5th, the same as the paper version.

With nice photos!

The opening lines read:

The Pennsylvania state library, founded by Benjamin Franklin 263 years ago, has survived two wars and a catastrophic fire.

Now, library advocates fear, its latest threat may be its most dire.

In the face of a multibillion-dollar deficit, Gov. Rendell wants to halve the state library budget - from $4.8 million to $2.3 million - which could all but wipe out the 56-person staff.

Worden goes on the relate that "Library commissioner M. Clare Zales said she was scrambling to find other ways to reduce costs - such as limiting hours - and preserve more jobs." That current party line (cutting other things in order to cut fewer jobs) doesn't seem to have gotten through to the governor's office, though.

Read what the governor's spokesman says, and particularly notice what he does not say:

A Rendell spokesman said that the administration was committed to libraries and that it kept its promise to restore funding for the hundreds of local libraries that had a 50 percent reduction in 2003.

"Our support for libraries over the course of administration is a matter of public record," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. "Our proposal for this year is simply a matter of fiscal reality."

What was it he said about the huge proposed cut to their own State Library? [blank space here, because he said nothing]

The administration restored local library funding that had also been whacked by 50% some years ago? Way back in 2003. Wait a minute, didn't the current administration take power in January 2003? So, wouldn't that mean that the current administration was the group that cut the public library funding it is now patting itself on the back for replacing? Uh, yeah, right.

And wait a minute! Read further down in the article:

"The state library cut comes as Rendell is proposing trimming by 5 percent funding for 624 local libraries in order to save $2 million."

You restored funding that you had cut? And now you're cutting it again??

Your support for libraries IS a matter of public record. And that really isn't something you should be thankful for!

Well, this Philadelphia Inquirer article includes quotes from Glenn Miller ("They're obviously going to be crippled by this.") and Elliot Shelkrot ("I can't imagine how they would function as a library with five people."), both friends of the State Library. Thanks for the support, guys!

And Clare promises to "keep the lights on" (those would be the lights that were just all switched to compact fluorescent fixtures and bulbs after months of delays) even if we're really slashing hours. Good. Whoever still has a job will at least be able to see. Maybe by then the "heavily fortified rare-book collection" will finally be open for the public.

Harrisburg Letter to the Editor

The (Harrisburg, PA) Patriot-News published a supportive letter to the editor on Saturday, February 28th 2009:

As a faithful patron of the State Library of Pennsylvania , I am greatly distressed over the possibility that come July 1, its doors might no longer be open or its hours greatly reduced.

Not only is the State Library a beautiful building with such a rich history, but it's also one of the leading libraries in the state for research material.

Much of the written heritage of our state is housed at this location.

To lay off these employees and close the doors to the library would be a slap in the face of Benjamin Franklin, upon whose collection of writings the library was founded upon in 1745.

I say, cut the pork barrel spending and keep the programs that benefit people, the taxpayers of this commonwealth.

The letter is signed by Kathy L. Fisher, Middle Paxton Township.

Members of the General Assembly, you don't want to be slapping the face of Ben Franklin. He wouldn't like it. Restore the Library's full funding. Now.