Thursday, September 2, 2010

Public Libraries and the Long Overdue End of the Quiet Era


Link to September 2 Newark Star-Ledger article, "Newark library frequenters hold read-in vigil to protest reduced hours".

Frequenters?  Seems to me, they're advocates.

Excerpt:   The library lost $2.45 million in funding from the city and that forced Library Director Wilma Grey to come up with a belt tightening plan that closed the First Avenue and Madison branches last month. Through December all library services will be closed two days a week. Salary freezes and 31 layoffs are slated, too.

"I think so often, not only here in Newark, government doesn’t realize what impact the library has had on people,’’ Grey said. "We are a quiet institution and sometimes you don’t know until many years later how the library has helped them find their way in life
.’’  [Emphasis added.]


If ever there was a time to
it's now!

Related articles:
24-hour vigil (video).  (9/1/2010)
Library adjusts to budget cuts.  (7/5/2010)

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