Libraries or Jails?

That was the question put to voters in Lafourche Parish Louisiana last Saturday.  As reported by Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times, the ballot measure would have diverted library funding to a new jail.  The measure was put forth by Lindel Toups, Chair of the Lafourche Parish Council, who objects in particular to the Biblioteca Hispana, a Spanish-language section in one of the branch libraries.  Mr. Toups accused the library of "teaching Mexicans how to speak English."  Furthermore, he said, "'Them junkies and hippies and food stamps [recipients] and all, they use the library to look at drugs and food stamps [on the Internet].  I see them do it.'" 

The specific proposal called for moving some property-tax revenue from the library in order to build a new detention facility.  Advocates of the proposal cited the need for a new jail, and said that diverting the money away from the library would allow the $25 million jail to be built without raising taxes.  Opponents pointed out that  the library system has already endured massive spending cuts and that some of the nine branches are in need of repair and renovation.  In addition, the library is not meeting state standards for staffing and acquisitions, and needs to devote more resources to both.  Finally, the library needs more funding to support the purchase of technology and to provide the digital resources that residents request.    

According to the statistics that Kellogg cites, Lafourche Parish is not a wealthy area.  The library is needed by those its serves and it is used.  "About 43% of [the Parish's] households do not have Internet access at home, while the library provides free Internet access with 186 computers.  More than half of  ...  residents, 53%, hold library cards, and in 2013, the library system has served more than 280,000 visitors."  The library launched a vigorous P.R. campaign, which was ultimately successful.  On Saturday, the voters rejected the measure by an eight-point margin (54-46 per cent), with 15.1 per cent of registered voters turning out. 

Library Weddings

The Boston Globe reports today on the trend to hold weddings in the Boston Public Library (BPL). Joseph P. Kahn (one of my favorites of the Globe regulars) notes that the trend is on at the New York Public Library as well. The BPL has not advertised at all, but simple word of mouth has increased the number of weddings from 24 last fiscal year to 54 this fiscal year (2011).

BPL tries not to let the weddings interfere with the core mission of serving the public with library services. There are a few patrons who are becoming suspicious of weeding projects and plans to physically reorganize departments, assuming that it is all in service of wedding catering.

The photos at the Globe are lovely, and if you have ever visited the main branch of the BPL, you will understand why people are willing to pay fees that can total into five figures for a wedding venue so lovely and unique. It also helps the very needy bottom line of a Boston institution, and speaks (ahem) volumes about the interests and values of the bride and groom. The budget of the Boston Public Library, like so many other libraries, has been slashed, and they have laid off 90 staff, according to Mr. Kahn. The wedding catering brought in $825,000 gross last year (fiscal year 2010), but netted only $220,000 after considering the extra costs for security, cleaning, events office, and utilities. Perhaps this year, they will have a higher net to gross ratio. We can hope!

A New Source of Support for Libraries

At some universities, academics and sports are worlds apart. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a new initiative at Duke University will bring those worlds closer together. Duke recently announced that

Starting this fall, a dollar from every ticket purchased at home games for baseball and for men's and women's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse games will go into a fund for the library system. Football tickets will become part of the venture in the fall of 2012.

(Athletic officials declined to give an estimate of how much money this venture could raise, saying only that the amount would be "significant.")

This is a great idea, as long as the University doesn't reduce the library system's budget because of this influx of new revenue. The Chronicle article points out other "partnerships between sports and library system," of which I was unaware. Examples include support of the Penn State library system by Joe Paterno, head coach of the Nittany Lions; renovation of Ohio State main library building, paid for by Ohio State athletics; and the ongoing support of the library system by the Notre Dame football team (donation whenever the team plays in a bowl game).