Anyone who cares about the future of American commerce, politics, science, art, music, film or about our future as a society should take a moment during this week, officially “National Library Week,” to reflect on the unfortunate state of the American public library system.
With the ease and speed of the Internet, it is easy to discount the public library as a home to musty plastic-covered books, a relic of the past.
Today, the estimated 16,421 public libraries in the U.S., often no longer valued as symbols of civic pride, have come under fire. When citizens reject local taxes and bonds, libraries and cultural programs are the first to go on the chopping block.
The community of Salinas, Calif., home of Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, provides an excellent example of the dismemberment of this great American legacy. In November, Salinas voters rejected two measures that would have added revenue to the city’s budget. By December the city council moved to close the city’s three libraries and lay off 33 employees because of lack of funds. Only after protests involving unions, national library experts, local schoolchildren and read-ins by celebrities was the community able to raise enough funds to keep the three libraries open, with a skeleton staff and minimum hours, until the end of the year.
According to the American Library Association, projected and announced library funding cuts nationally have topped $111.2 million in the past 18 months, resulting in the “reduction in library funding … cuts to operating budgets, limited hours, reduced materials budgets, hiring freezes or elimination of personnel and reduced library programming.”
The ALA’s “anecdotal reports” on budget funding contain the most up-to-date statistical data available, supplementing the most recent comprehensive federal data, which lags by two to five years. This speaks volumes about how our society has come to rank the importance of this public institution.
Libraries may seem old fashioned, but given proper funding, more libraries could offer audiobooks for iPods and connections to the all-important Internet, in addition to traditional book loans.
For many citizens living in poverty, libraries provide the only possible access to e-mail correspondence, worldwide news and many other online services. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found in 2004 that 23 percent of adult U.S. Internet users, close to 30 million people, have gone online from a place other than home or work. While some used the Internet at school and friends’ or neighbors’ homes, 26 percent used it at libraries.
Twentieth century historian Arthur Meier Schlesinger said, “The public library has been historically a vital instrument of democracy and opportunity in the United States. … Our history has been greatly shaped by people who read their way to opportunity and achievements in public libraries.” We couldn’t agree more.
Eugene has been graced, relatively recently, by a new and grand public library that has become a point of pride for its citizens. It has become a beacon that speaks to the importance of education in our community, and we hope it remains as such for many years. We urge the majority of this nation to take another look at local libraries and give them the funding they deserve.

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