# 15 libraries to close in my home county -- no funding **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364 "2007-04-09T20:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/1 "2007-04-09T20:18:10Z")
[Link](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/04/MNGC7N6Q3M1.DTL). The one in Ashland, down the street, closed on the 6th. What frustrates me is that I feel so horribly helpless. I’m not a resident, I just go to school here, so I can’t vote on county measures. I have no idea how to organize anything on a larger scale than that, or who to appeal to in a case like this. It’s the largest library closure in U.S. history, and it just makes me _seething mad_ that we can lose access to so much information. I’m sure I don’t need to expound to the Dope on how important libraries are to a community, especially a community like this one (small and rural). I suppose the university has a library, but you have to pay for membership. Hello, socioeconomic class issues! Apparently there’s a [bill up](http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007/0329/local/stories/senate-bill.htm) in Congress to approve funding, but Bush is threatening to veto because it’s part of a larger package that sets a timetable for troop withdrawl in Iraq. Our library’s a lovely old 19th-century building that’s right downtown, on a little hill. It has great children’s programs, an ESL group, and fantastic book sales. I just feel so helpless. And possessed of a big wave of “YOU FUNDED _THAT_ AND CUT _THIS?!_” rage directed at a few locales in Washington, but there is enough overwhelming evidence that _they_ don’t care that I feel like the issue is already lost. THEY’RE LIBRARIES! FUCKING FIFTEEN LIBRARIES! HOW CAN YOU _DO_ THAT?! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/2 "2007-04-09T20:41:40Z")
While I can understand getting some help for library activities from a federal grant, pinning 80% of your budget on that source doesn’t seem sustainable at all to me. That’s just setting up a situation like this. If the libraries were funded more through local sources, they’d ride out the storm with only cutbacks in some areas, or at worst some branch closures. I’d be mighty angry at your local officials for allowing this situation to develop. While the feds share some blame, they have to run those libraries, and it doesn’t sound to me like they’ve done a great job of it. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/3 "2007-04-09T20:45:07Z")
I’ve been reading about that, and I’m so sorry. Your system is so great, too! (That is, the website impressed me with how much better it is than ours.) ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/4 "2007-04-09T20:49:02Z")
the other thing I question (just from your title, not your link) is 15 librariers in the county seems a bit odd to me (and I’m in the county that contains the capital of our state). I know that we’ve consolodated library services, most of the county library is in the most populated city (with a smaller satelite on the south edge of that same town, in easy striking distance of a couple more places), then there’s a bookmobile type of thing for the more rural places. Just as you wouldn’t expect to have the same level of service delivery for grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants etc in a more rural setting vs. an urban one, the costs incurred by **any** business can become cost prohibitive in more remote areas. It’s one of the trade offs for living in a rural place - you may have to go further to get access to hospitals, stores, movie theaters etc. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/5 "2007-04-09T20:49:07Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] While I can understand getting some help for library activities from a federal grant, pinning 80% of your budget on that source doesn’t seem sustainable at all to me. That’s just setting up a situation like this. [/QUOTE] No kidding. The city only funds 20% of the budget? I am the president of my local library board, and our city funds virtually 100% of our budget. We get no money from the state (because if we accepted it, we would have to install internet filters, no thanks) and the only federal money is an occasional grant for a specific project totalling a couple thousand dollars out of a budget of $1.3M. I agree that closing 15 libraries is a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/6 "2007-04-09T20:55:02Z")
The article said they relied on Federal funds because of a special circumstance. > [@](#): > > Last fall, Congress failed to reauthorize a $400 million annual subsidy to 41 states to help rural counties prop up their local economies. Oregon took the biggest hit – $150 million. Jackson County lost $23 million and had to slash everywhere, from reducing jail beds to cutting search and rescue teams. > > That meant some hard choices, said Jackson County Administrator Danny Jordan. > > “Losing libraries is a huge business deterrent – who wants to move to a city that doesn’t have libraries?” Jordan said. “But we decided we had to maintain public safety, which is already taking a $3.5 million cut. We won’t be able to monitor misdemeanor sex offenders anymore. The hard reality is that libraries are not an option for us.” > > Jordan says Congress broke a promise when it cut off the funds – the money was supposed to be in exchange for land taken away from Oregon by President Theodore Roosevelt. > > In the early 1900s, Roosevelt took 2.4 million acres away from the Oregon-California Railroad, which was accused of swindling land deals in exchange for building the railroad. When the federal government reclaimed the land, Oregon lost half its property tax base. > > To make up for it, the federal government agreed to split timber revenues on the acreage with Oregon. Over the next 50 years it was a lucrative arrangement, and timber money was used to build courthouses and jails, pave roads and free Oregonians from having to pay sales taxes. > > The good times petered out in the early 1990s, when the northern spotted owl was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, all but shutting down large-scale logging. Today, just one large sawmill remains in Jackson County, compared with 91 in 1954. > > While promising to come up with rules for a more ecologically friendly logging method, Congress agreed in 2000 to continue “safety net” payments to rural counties for six more years. But no one did the hard work of figuring out how to balance the timber industry with nature. So the checks stopped in December 2006. In general I agree that states should not look to the Federal government to finance local programs(and libraries surely fit the definition of local programs) but this seems to have been a special circumstance. Maybe the citizens should have just voted in the property tax a few years ago when the hit to the timber industry showed up as blazing writing on the wall, but they may have a point that this was an obligation the feds took on when they appropriated those huge tracts of country, and the revenue they represented, and the feds should support the state they took that revenue stream away from by federal fiat. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/7 "2007-04-09T21:04:01Z")
I’m so sorry. ☹ our local library (in a rural community) is the hub of activity for school children. They have book clubs, and summer reading programs that literally bring in hundreds of children every week. Their programs keep our community learning and reading and I don’t want to think of this town without it. are they closing every library in your county? is there a consolidation of rescources happening? as in, close 15, but retain 5. Is there a community action group you could become a part of that is raising money to help stop the closure of all the libraries? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/8 "2007-04-09T21:11:38Z")
[QUOTE=Tracy Lord] It’s the largest library closure in U.S. history, and it just makes me _seething mad_ that we can lose access to so much information. I’m sure I don’t need to expound to the Dope on how important libraries are to a community, especially a community like this one (small and rural). [/QUOTE] The Buffalo library system closed 20 branches two years ago and everyone was worried about their future as well. But they’ve rebounded, securing more city money and private contributions and their is a five year plan in place to bring the system back to its pre-cut levels. So far it seems to be working. So there is hope. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/9 "2007-04-09T21:14:39Z")
Isn’t Oregon full of tax cranks? Didn’t they pretty much kill off school arts programs for the entire state years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/10 "2007-04-09T21:34:25Z")
As a bibliophile, I sympathize with the OP’s distress. A library being forced to close for lack of funds is a terrible thing, let alone 15 at once. On the other hand, as a bibliomaniac, I’m twisted enough to wish desperately that I could be on hand when the county auctions off the collection. I know, I know, I’m sick; I can’t help myself… ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/11 "2007-04-10T00:35:01Z")
There is talk in Nashville of closing the libraries on Sundays and of having shorter hours at the beautiful new downtown library and the branches. Not enough money. Is this a trend across the country? The news of Nashville just came out this week. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/12 "2007-04-10T00:50:25Z")
The local government in Oregon has known, for years, that the feds would cut off funding now. They haven’t been able to convince the community that they have to fund it. Personally I hope the feds don’t give up the money, and that the people there decide to do it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/13 "2007-04-10T01:16:00Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] There is talk in Nashville of closing the libraries on Sundays and of having shorter hours at the beautiful new downtown library and the branches. Not enough money. Is this a trend across the country? The news of Nashville just came out this week. [/QUOTE] The two branches that are closest to my home have always been closed on Sundays, as far back as I can remember. I grew up in this area. Of course, back then, we had blue laws, so I think that was part of it. Anyway, the two branches that I frequent are closed on Sundays and Fridays. On the other days, they’re open 8 hours, though the hours change from one weekday to the next. The main library is open longer hours, and open seven days a week, but it’s a royal pain to get to. I always donate some money to the library fund every time I go, at least five dollars, and more usually twenty. I figure that since I can’t get out of a bookstore for less than a hundred dollars, it’s a bargain. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/14 "2007-04-10T01:23:17Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] The local government in Oregon has known, for years, that the feds would cut off funding now. They haven’t been able to convince the community that they have to fund it. Personally I hope the feds don’t give up the money, and that the people there decide to do it themselves. [/QUOTE] I’m actually in agreement with this sentiment. At some point, you have to take a stand. Painful as it may be, life may not be as fair as you like. While I think it’s wonderful that Oregon doesn’t have a sales tax to fund things, most states do. Welcome to the world of the average person in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/15 "2007-04-10T01:25:12Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] There is talk in Nashville of closing the libraries on Sundays and of having shorter hours at the beautiful new downtown library and the branches. Not enough money. [/QUOTE] Denver closed all libraries, including the main one, on Sundays about three years ago. Each library is also closed one other day a week; they’ve tried to be location sensitive with that so that your three closest libraries aren’t all closed on Thursday, and they also vary the hours so that each is open a couple of evenings. We’re not in **Tracy Lord** ’s situation; it’s a lack of _local_ money. There’s talk of attempting to set up a tax district to support the library separately from the general fund. So far, talk is all it is. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/16 "2007-04-10T08:07:55Z")
[QUOTE=Tracy Lord] What frustrates me is that I feel so horribly helpless. I’m not a resident, I just go to school here, so I can’t vote on county measures. [/QUOTE] Are you sure you cannot register to vote? It might be worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/17 "2007-04-11T15:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] There is talk in Nashville of closing the libraries on Sundays and of having shorter hours at the beautiful new downtown library and the branches. Not enough money. Is this a trend across the country? The news of Nashville just came out this week. [/QUOTE] It’s been a trend for some time. Salinas had a nasty bit a little while ago, just off the top of my head. I’m lucky to work in a library system that’s reasonably well funded by the county every year. We’re actually building and remodeling, which is great! We have a main library and nine branches - used to have a bookmobile but we’re building another branch instead. People here really love the library and support it. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/18 "2007-04-11T15:20:57Z")
I sympathise with you. Thre are many libraries within walking distance of my home, large ones and a smaller ones There are also umpteen libraries in Manchester centre all of which are free. God forbid that any of our libraries get shut down ---
**Author:** ![Snowcarpet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowcarpet/32/257_2.png) [@Snowcarpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowcarpet)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/19 "2007-04-11T17:15:04Z")
It seems weird to offer up helpful links in a pit thread, but I am a librarian after all! This group is working to help the Jackson Co libraries. [http://www.sols-yes.org/home.asp](http://www.sols-yes.org/home.asp) ---
**Author:** ![rainwalker78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rainwalker78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainwalker78)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364/20 "2007-04-11T18:01:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] There is talk in Nashville of closing the libraries on Sundays and of having shorter hours at the beautiful new downtown library and the branches. Not enough money. Is this a trend across the country? The news of Nashville just came out this week. [/QUOTE] WHAT?! Say it ain’t so. I have to go cry now… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-libraries-to-close-in-my-home-county-no-funding/399364.md?page=2)