Michigan Librarians Demand Full Funding for Resource Sharing
Some six weeks after Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order that would dismantle the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries, to which the Library of Michigan reports, some 500 librarians, genealogists, and other library supporters held a September 10 rally at the state capitol in Lansing to demand full funding for state-supported resource-sharing services.
The second-such rally to be held in a month, the event occurred only 15 days after the governor and MLA engaged in some public fence-mending. In response to a series of messages from Michigan’s librarians to state officials expressing concern over the governor’s executive order , Gov. Granholm had issued a clarification (PDF file) August 26. The intent, said Granholm, was to “strike a careful and prudent balance between the goal of achieving efficient administration and necessary cost savings and that of preserving and maintaining public access to the library’s collections and resources.”
Then, in a September 9 amendment to the July 13 order, Granholm expressed her respect for the office of state librarian, dismissing rumors that the job was slated for elimination. In that amendment, she also affirmed that the board of the new Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention should include “librarians, historians, archivists, and others with relevant expertise.”
Responding to the governor’s August 26 clarification the same day it was issued, MLA retracted its opposition to her order, stating, “We applaud the Governor’s commitment to preserve the collections within the Library of Michigan and to accept recommendations of qualified librarians to serve on the new board.” MLA went on to say that it was pleased with Granholm’s prioritizing continued support and funding for the Michigan eLibrary (MeL) and Michigan eLibrary Catalog (MeLCat), the statewide library book and electronic material-sharing programs.
Nonetheless, MLA President Larry Neal still worries about the fate of the State Library. He said at the September 10 rally that MeL and MeLCat are in jeopardy if library funding is cut from $10 million to $7.5 million, as lawmakers are proposing. He also noted that state law calls for the state library to be funded at $15.4 million. “MeL and MeLCat would collapse like a house of cards,” he said, because Michigan would also face losing matching federal funds. “Please Save MeL,” the crowd chanted.
—Sean Fitzpatrick, American Libraries Online
Posted on September 14, 2009; modified September 15, 2009.