Michigan Librarians Speak Out to Save State Library
In reaction to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s July announcement that the Department of History, Archives, and Libraries would be disbanded—bringing along with it serious budget cuts and the likelihood the Library of Michigan’s collections would be scattered to as many as seven locations—librarians at the local and national levels have joined together in protest. An August 5 rally in Lansing, organized by the Michigan Genealogical Council, began with a four-block walk from the state capitol to the library, after which the 450 participants encircled the facility, each grasping a paper ribbon that stretched around the building.
“It’s good to see people being vocal about their support for libraries and the value they bring to their communities,” State Librarian Nancy Robertson told American Libraries. Librarians oppose Granholm’s executive order to divide the library and put most of its units under the control of the state Department of Education, fearing that the collections would be lost or damaged and that funding would be further reduced.
But Robertson was optimistic, telling AL she was not only pleased that the state librarian position would be maintained under the new organizational structure and that she would continue to serve in her current capacity, but also that the areas the library was losing—the departments of the census and demographer and the service for the blind and physically handicapped—were transitioning smoothly. She added that because the executive order and corresponding budget had not been finalized, the library is conducting “business as usual” and that she had no plans as yet to alter any of the library’s collections.
Nonetheless, librarians are worried about what they are losing under Granholm’s plan. “Distributing or removing these collections [would destroy] 180 years of collecting, cataloging, and preserving materials,” Woodlands Library Cooperative Director James Seidl said in the July 30 Toledo Blade. Michigan Library Association President Larry Neal expressed concern in an August 4 press release (Word file) that Granholm’s order “diminishes the position, influence, and stature of the library community and the State Library of Michigan.” Further, Neal fears, cost savings and effective delivery of services are being ignored.
While the MLA board said it understood the governor’s decision to disband HAL, it expressed opposition to many parts of the executive order, such as the lack of librarian representation on the nine-member board of Granholm’s newly proposed Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention, whose designated housing in the current state library building would necessitate dismantling the library’s collection. Noting that the state senate’s proposed FY2010 budget cut of $2.5 million would diminish funding to “less than half of what is statutorily required,” MLA Executive Director Gretchen Couraud stated, “If this budget is enacted, the entire statewide resource sharing and interlibrary loan system could collapse.”
In an August 6 press release ALA President Camila Alire echoed Neal and Couraud, saying that “Scattering the library’s resources would destroy the integrity of the state library system.” Asserting that streamlining, even amid economically challenging times, is a double-edged sword, Alire added, “The governor’s order ignores the Library of Michigan’s leading role in achieving cost savings and efficiencies in delivering statewide library services through collaboration, resource sharing, and group purchasing.”
In addition to the August 5 rally, librarians throughout the state have spoken out against Granholm’s proposal to redistribute the collection with letters to state lawmakers, and MLA is organizing a rally for September 10. The executive order disbanding HAL takes effect October 1, at the beginning of Michigan’s new fiscal year.
—Sean Fitzpatrick, American Libraries Online
Posted on August 12, 2009.