[WEB4LIB] RE: More Library News From the State of Washington

[Charles Lockwood]

Ouch!
As a kid even the smallest town library - the Cragsmoor Free Library in the mountains of Upstate New York, worked its special magic on me; I was then  interested in "rocks and minerals" and aviation, and got what knowledge I needed there. 
Dicount bookstores and video outlets instead? Good luck to you and yours, anti-tax crusaders...

Charles Lockwood
Digital Llibrarian
Loyola Notre Dame Library
Baltimore MD 



>>> "Shirl Kennedy" <sdk at cesmail.net> 08/20/02 21:54 PM >>>
The quote I liked best in this whole story:

"Mr. Sitler, a member of the American Heritage Party, which calls for an
end to all property taxes and for a government based on biblical tenets,
also complains that the head librarian's annual salary of $51,000 is too
high.
"The salaries they pay those librarians, with health benefits and all that,
it adds up," he said."

Never mind the libraries....  If these people want to do away with all
property taxes, what the heck do they expect to happen when they need to
call 911?

Am I overly naive, or what?

Shirl K.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of gary
> Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 8:54 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] More Library News From the State of Washington
>
>
> This ran in today's NY Times:
>
> "Tax Revolt Takes Aim at a County's Libraries"
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/national/20LIBR.html
>
>
> >From the article, "The libraries of Stevens County [Washington],
> bounded by the
> Canadian border, national forests and two large Indian
> reservations, are among
> the most remote in the United States. They are also threatened with
> extinction...A group of antitax crusaders are trying to shutter
> them, in an
> effort that the American Library Association says may be the
> first aimed at
> dissolving an entire county library system by referendum."
>
> Why do the antitax folks want to close the library? Included in
> the groups lists
> of reasons, "...rural libraries are increasingly obsolete, given
> the Internet,
> video outlets and discount bookstores."
>
> Finally this quote, "The library is so important in this town,
> especially in the
> winter, when there's not a lot to do," said Dianne Eppler, who
> runs an antiques
> store there. "When you start losing those things like a library,
> you lose the
> things that make a community. I mean, everybody needs a library."
>
>
>
> gary
>
> --
> Gary D. Price, MLIS
> Librarian
> Gary Price Library Research and Internet Consulting
> gary at freepint.com
>
> The Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk
> http://resourceshelf.freepint.com
>
>