The ALA Washington Office issued a press release this morning, announcing that President Obama's FY2011 budget proposal to Congress calls for a freeze on federal library funding under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the primary source of federal funding for libraries. Under the president’s plan, LSTA would be level-funded at $214 million.
The press release goes on to note that as Americans deal with the weakened economy, they are using their libraries more than ever before, visiting them over 119 million times each month. ALA President Camila Alire says that freezing federal funding for libraries at this time of increased demand will hinder libraries from serving job-seekers, who are flocking to the library for help with online job searching and applications, resume writing, and computer classes.
All of this seems oddly familiar. Those of us who've been around long enough recognize that libraries fare no better, and often worse, under the Democrats than the Republicans. Much as librarians work both sides of the aisle on National Library Legislative Day (PDF file), and much as many had a great deal of faith in the fate of library funding under an Obama administration, the politics of economic recovery have so far failed to acknowledge the crucial role of libraries and education. While I suppose we could be grateful that the budget does not propose an overt cut to LSTA funding, flat funding under these circumstances is as good as a cut since it will not make up for what's happening at the state and local level.
President Obama's State of the Union address emphasized the need to help America get back to work, and libraries are critical access points to information and resources that are helping job-seekers every day. At the same time many libraries in our country are suffering from state budget cuts that have resulted in staff loss, reduced hours, or even closures. We are all being asked to do more with less.
I am reminded of an interview I did with the future president before his keynote address at the 2005 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, in which he said, "I probably would not be in Chicago were it not for the Manhattan public library, because I was looking for an organizing job and was having great trouble finding a job as a community organizer in New York. The Mid-Manhattan library had these books of lists of organizations, and the librarian helped me find these lists of organizations, and I wrote to every organization. One of them wound up being an organization in Chicago that I got a job with."
And I am disappointed.
I am reminded of a recent interview with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in which he said, "We’re going to do whatever we can to let folks know that we have to keep children reading, we have to keep them learning, we have to keep our buildings open, we have to keep our libraries open and staffed. There are well-documented research studies that show the generic correlation between a qualified librarian, strong libraries, and student achievement."
And I am disappointed.
The federal budget is a small but critical percentage of the funding America’s libraries receive, and the president’s budget also included a $400-billion investment into education but did not include specific funds for school libraries. "It is alarming that the president did not recognize the value of school libraries in today’s schools and include them in this effort to improve education,” Alire says in the press release. You can be sure that the ALA Washington Office and the American Association of School Librarians will be reiterating the following message in the days ahead: "Research repeatedly shows that a well-funded and fully staffed school library program with a state-licensed school librarian is an integral component of a student’s education.”