My Good Deed

[R. Richard]

The idiots who run the town and county where I now live wanted to cut the local library budget. I went to my local librarian and told her that the library needed the following sign at the entrance:

Need help writing a resume?
Ask a librarian!

Need help writing a cover letter for a resume?
Ask a librarian!

Need help preparing for a job interview?
Ask a librarian!

The librarians are now provided with a list of books in the areas of each item in the sign. They try to direct questioners to the proper book for the kind of job they're applying for. They then request feedback. Hopefuly, they'll help some people get jobs and then pay taxes on their earnings.

I suggested that they point this last out to the idiots who run the town and county where I live. IT WORKED! The cheap bastards actually gave the library money for a professional sign and even a little budget to buy help books.

If your library needs help, why are you still sitting there staring at your screen???

 

[DesertPirate]

Ours is in the middle of a renovation almost doubling the size
High Point, NC where they accidently do something right now and then

 

[R. Richard]

Ours is in the middle of a renovation almost doubling the size
High Point, NC where they accidently do something right now and then

I'm envious. Our local libraries are all in the grip of the budget crunch. Until my plan they had essentially no money even to buy books and they had layoffs and pay cuts. The key was that my plan would probably generate some tax money.

 

[BertrandRussell]

.....

 

[john-the-author]

The idiots who run the town and county where I now live wanted to cut the local library budget. I went to my local librarian and told her that the library needed the following sign at the entrance:

Need help writing a resume?
Ask a librarian!

Need help writing a cover letter for a resume?
Ask a librarian!

Need help preparing for a job interview?
Ask a librarian!

The librarians are now provided with a list of books in the areas of each item in the sign. They try to direct questioners to the proper book for the kind of job they're applying for. They then request feedback. Hopefuly, they'll help some people get jobs and then pay taxes on their earnings.

I suggested that they point this last out to the idiots who run the town and county where I live. IT WORKED! The cheap bastards actually gave the library money for a professional sign and even a little budget to buy help books.

If your library needs help, why are you still sitting there staring at your screen???

Oh, I love it, RR!!!

A friend of ours in a small town just north of here is the lead librarian and did something a bit like that when she pitched the need for more hours and how many people were using the publicly available computers at the library. She talked the city council into more hours.

 

[oggbashan]

In the UK one of the growing leisure interests is family history. The hits on census returns and other sites with family history information are growing at a very fast rate.

A few miles down the road from me is a local museum. It has a mass of resources on local family history, but only one paid employee. The other workers are unpaid volunteers who are knowledgeable in specialist areas. The museum and its curator have featured on one episode of the TV programme "Who Do You Think You Are?".

The local council, who own the historic building and some of the exhibits, are considering cutting the small grant they give to keep the museum open to zero. They would then have to budget for the care and maintenance of the building and the exhibits that remained and provide a caretaker. The cost would be twice the cost of the current grant.

But the museum will probably close anyway. Why? "Grants are bad." "Care and maintenance is prudent spending."

The local library, not run by that council but by the county council, used to have a local history collection, not as good as the museum's but useful. The county council moved all of it twenty miles away to a central storage depot where you need an appointment to see anything - because it was more "efficient!".

Public services are for the public - what a novel idea.

Og

 

[jomar]

well done, RR...

The library closest to me is closed for remodeling...gonna be bigger. I guess it worked when they raised the late fees from five cents to fifty cents a day.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Our libraries just cut hours, from 9-9 to 10-6. Residents here pay a distinct tax to operate the libraries, plus parks and recreation, so theyre protected from the turmoil of sales taxes and user fees. BUT!!!! The county commission then balances the budget with the library/parks money.

They could save a pot of cash by shelving the bus service. Every fare costs one dollar, but every rider costs the county ten dollars. The budget is $10,000,000 for 1,000,000 riders, but the fares produced $1,ooo,ooo of revenue. The county loses $9 on every passsenger.

 

[redpaint]

I already belong to "the Friends of the library" We help raise money for the library here. I have even done art work for them to action off to help raise money.

 

[R. Richard]

The key here is to stress the idea that the libraries can help people get jobs and then the people will reduce the demand on public funds and even pay more taxes. Every department of 'government' needs more money. Those that produce money have the best chance of getting more budget. [I know the library isn't 'government,' but close enough.]

 

[Stella_Omega]

I live between two libraries. One of them is in a small self-incorporated town, has about half as many books as it has shelves, despite the fact that it's filled every day with kids from three adjacent schools. The other is recently renovated to three times its size, filled with books, and filled with users.

It's really wonderful to see how many kids are reading books these days!

 

[R. Richard]

I live between two libraries. One of them is in a small self-incorporated town, has about half as many books as it has shelves, despite the fact that it's filled every day with kids from three adjacent schools. The other is recently renovated to three times its size, filled with books, and filled with users.

It's really wonderful to see how many kids are reading books these days!

Very probably the 'starved' library is a town library and the other is a county library. County libraries tend to be much better funded than town libraries.

 

[DesertPirate]

I'm envious. Our local libraries are all in the grip of the budget crunch. Until my plan they had essentially no money even to buy books and they had layoffs and pay cuts. The key was that my plan would probably generate some tax money.

Looks like it is going to come out really nice when it's done
I am impressed!

 

[oggbashan]

In England, before local government reorganisation in 1974, libraries were run by the local council closest to the users.

In 1974 it became a county function. Library stocks were amalgamated, local history resources were concentrated in two locations in the county.

Except in the City of London. The government left the City of London alone. The City of London left its library services, a mix of charitable and council facilities, as it was. The result - when in 1978 I wanted to consider studying a Master's, the nearest charitable library offered to buy ALL the books I might need and lend them to me for up to three years free before I needed to renew the loan. That library now has unlimited free internet access for about forty simultaneous users and unlimited wi-fi at no cost to the users or local taxpayers. It also still has its books. It hasn't discarded, sold, thrown away or failed to renovate/repair any, except those replaced after fair wear and tear. Almost all the books given by the original donors in the 17th Century are still there to be consulted and used. Unfortunately it has lost books to thieves but it has replaced them if copies exist to be bought.

Libraries are still undervalued. Wikipedia is no substitute for a good library.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

Libraries are still undervalued. Wikipedia is no substitute for a good library.

Og

I agree that libraries are undervalued. Wiki is a quick way to look up information, but some of the entries are wrong/biased and Wiki doesn't offer the depth of a library resource.

 

[redpaint]

The key here is to stress the idea that the libraries can help people get jobs and then the people will reduce the demand on public funds and even pay more taxes. Every department of 'government' needs more money. Those that produce money have the best chance of getting more budget. [I know the library isn't 'government,' but close enough.]

The librarie here has a bank of computer that are free to use. Great for people out of work and looking for work. they also carry all the local papers and have the resources to help learn how to feel out job apps. and resumes.

But we are lucky here that buget cuts have not hit hard on our librarie and the amaing thing is how small this town is t have as big as a librarie as we have. But there is room for improment.

 

[R. Richard]

The librarie here has a bank of computer that are free to use. Great for people out of work and looking for work. they also carry all the local papers and have the resources to help learn how to feel out job apps. and resumes.

But we are lucky here that buget cuts have not hit hard on our librarie and the amaing thing is how small this town is t have as big as a librarie as we have. But there is room for improment.

The library here also has computers for free Internet access (the user does have to sign up.) The problem is that many come in and use the limited number of computers to 'research' sexy girls or celebrity gossip.

Just because the town hasn't yet cut the library budget, doesn't mean that they won't in the future. If you can get a proactive campaign started, there's less chance that they will cut the budget in the future.