Readers Cameraphone: We Regret To Inform You That, Due To The Budget Crisis In Harrisburg, The City Can No Longer Support Your Brain
Our tipster says that these are about to be posted on the front doors on the Central Library. We swear we’re not trying to make you cry today. Sorry, everybody.
Seeing something around town of note? Cameraphone it to: tips[at]philebrity[dot]com.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
*Weeps.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Typical gangster politicians. They always cut police, fireman and libraries first. Why? Those and trash pick up are really all most citizens require from government. The rest of the shit is their way of empowering themselves.That stuff never gets cut. I hope they NEVER get a budget and the whole cesspool collapses.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
re: I hope they NEVER get a budget and the whole cesspool collapses.
Yes, we had to destroy it in order to save it.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Shit I just renewed my lease. Shit city, here we come (again).
September 10th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
wow. philadelphia is really lame.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Yeah, similar signs are about to go up on all rec centers and parks. Welcome to the jungle.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
terrible.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
seeing as how over half of the people in this city can’t read anyway and the ones that can found out about the internet fifteen years ago, is this really something people care about? as opposed to just making noise because, like puppies, ‘everyone’ loves a library?
September 10th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Kinda jackassy, dx. Those of us who can read (on and off the internet) and actually use that faculty to inform ourselves (as opposed to stumble through life based upon a handful of personal anecdotes that can be summed up in blog comments, however poignant) realize that quite a few people in Philadelphia rely on library’s for access to information in print, and yes, the internet.
That said, where’s Fishtown Crying Man when we need him for Round 2?
September 10th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
@c: i’m not in any way pretending i don’t use the library. i use it pretty regularly, in fact. but that’s because i read a lot, and it’s cheaper to read for free than it is to buy a book. duh.
but it’s not like if a library didn’t exist, i’d suddenly stop reading, or that books would disappear from the world, or that books are even the thing worth reading 75% of the time anymore, or any other thing that would be in any way life changing.
whether it would be picking up a practically-free book from the Philly AIDS Thrift, a slightly more expensive one from the Book Trader, hell maybe even a new one if i was -really- excited about it (hasn’t happened in years, but i guess it could) or if i was being specific, getting one used off amazon or ebay, there would still be affordable books. tons of them. if there is one thing the world lacks, it is not words printed on dead trees.
it just seems to me that of all the possible things to be legitimately upset about in this budget, the closing of libraries is more knee-jerk reaction than anything. people are upset because they’ve been trained for years to be upset about it. it’s the thing politicians always turn to first to get the public worked up. but it’s not because the general public actually uses them. ask a librarian sometime. they’ll be glad to tell you all about how “nobody uses the library anymore.”
September 11th, 2009 at 7:55 am
dx, the reading material is only a small part of what libraries are used for. The provide Internet access to those that cannot afford it. They are community centers for kids in neighborhoods where such places are hard to come by. They facilitate culture (The Free Library regularly hosts readings by famous authors and various panels).
The fact that they provide books honestly is secondary. In Europe, no one has heard of a free library (lending libraries exist but they are not free) and plenty of people read. It is the community aspects that make libraries so important to the citizens of Philadelphia.
And, Central Branch is pretty f’in sweet.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:22 am
dx, I’m a librarian at the Free Library. I would never tell anyone “nobody uses the library anymore” because it’s not true. The Internet does not come with instructions and most people who come here (i.e those who did not grow up with computers in their homes, i.e. most Philadelphians) do not know how to use the web to find reliable information. That’s why we teach computer classes, help patrons who come to use our computers, run job-searching workshops, instruct patrons on how to use our scholarly databases, recommend resources (both online and print) for info on everything from politics to health, give tours of our facilities to students, etc. The majority of the people who walk through our doors are dependent on the library in some way. They rely on the library for much more than just the recreational reading that you do. Libraries don’t just provide piles of books; they provide instruction and information.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:56 am
jburnside is pretty much right. Pols usually cut police, fireman, trash pickup, rec centers, and libraries first. What they don’t usually cut is Health and Human services which takes a large portion of the city budget, but only affects a segment of the community. Public goods which benefit everyone should be last on the cutting board, not first.
I hope the budget impasse is settled, but make no mistake about it: Nutter is twisting arms of local citizens in hopes that they will pressure Harrisburg. Gangster pol move 100%.
September 11th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I am a librarian. It is beautiful to see the long lines of Philadelphians eagerly waiting for the branch where I work to open for the day, even if our collapsing economy gives it a sad edge for the adults who don’t have too many other institutions to turn to on a work day. Large numbers are looking for work though. I help everyone from laborers, to artists, to college educated working class folks navigate the various tools at the library. Of course the computer is starting point, after all even the lowest paying service industry jobs demand you fill out an application online. Do readers here know the pain of the cold promise of Snagajob, Indeed, Monster, etc? Most of my patrons do. And of course they know Craigslist, as we all do. But it feels good to burst the secret of the privileged bubble that is Philaculture’s job bank. Even if disappointment of no replies is to come, there’s a deep relief on our patron’s faces when a librarian guides them to a better resource, another option. Idealist and Opportunityknocks have seemed a bit overwhelming to some. But the most tenacious are willing to methodically look through PhillySOS or even the AIDS Library’s Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Resources for People Living with HIV/AIDS to identify non-Profits, QUANGOs, and other programs that may meet their interests, background, and specialties while expanding the possibilities of employment beyond McDonald’s now that high school is back in session. Not to mention their needs as citizens of city that America (and Harrisburg) is willing to throw away.
But a librarian is not just trained to memorize a few online databases. Not everyone thinks to check out books from our career collection to expand their sense of “marketing” oneself to employers. But then again, you would expect us to push you to the catalog. So there’s also the effort of my colleagues to gather resources to point our patrons to the organizations that can do further referral, give more workshops, review more resumes. Careerlink comes to mind, there are many more.
Our academic training also encourages us to think about “information seeking habits”. We know from the vaguely “scientific” studies by the PhDs who train us that personal relationships are often where normal people go first for information. Perhaps it’s an obvious truism to many, but giving tips to particularly focused job hunters about tracking down contact information for specific individuals in the fields in which they’d like to work is particularly gratifying to me. Especially so if they get a response.
The Free Library pays for access to subscription based databases and services that are made freely available to you, the library card holder. I highly suggest checking them out:
http://search.library.phila.gov/advSearch.cfm?bySubject=false
There are even services that will provide feedback on written work within 24 hours. What a relief that was to a patron yesterday who wanted some focused attention on a writing sample she needed to provide for a job lead.
As a librarian, I can tell you I love Google and Wikipedia and how they’ve helped more internet users feel growing confidence as searchers. However, many of you intuitively know that some in my profession see it as a threat. I too cringe when I see the discourse (or the amateur scholarship) on the Internet essentially relies only on those two resources. But Google can only index a tiny fraction of the electronic information available on the web, and Wikipedia articles are often poorly sourced but readers don’t think critically about authority.
Meanwhile, I understand that librarians have done a poor job letting you, the sophisticated web surfer, know that we offer services far broader than you imagine from this exhilarating hyperlinked perch. Frankly though, the elite “what do we even need libraries for?” crowd come across sounding quite boorish and middlebrow to me. Not only is their an air of snobbishness about one’s own privileged access to information, but there’s also ignorance of how sophisticated the library is as a democratic institution that has the perhaps hubristic mission to index, collocate, pre/post coordinate all the universe’s information, as well as tenaciously serve any individual’s curiosity about any subject. More humbly as previously mentioned, we offer entertainment for the life of the mind, space for communities to share their knowledge, and an open and safe environment for babies and children to be reared. Historically, literacy really has been the tool and the barometer of progress and civilization… so programs from Books Aloud to LEAP need not be seen as daycare that could best be located elsewhere.
With the exception of those who are so over libraries in the Google-century, our municipal library systems tend to be one of the few government institutions citizens almost universally like. Fire departments are certainly admired and certainly vital in life or death emergencies. If we had Medicare for All we would probably like that too, especially as our health systems started healing us instead of trying to profit off us. Kinda like the way libraries in America simply serve their communities as a passion and without regard to class or social status.
Don’t forget either that running a large complex urban library system depends on the labor of hundreds of library assistants, guards, youth leaders, maintenance folks, IT Techs, clerks, et cetera. These are good an accessible jobs that provide much stability to families throughout Philadelphia. When you take the following steps to save the Free Library and the rest of Philadelphia please keep that in mind:
http://www.library.phila.gov/about/actionnow.htm
September 11th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
@adam: thank you. that is exactly the response i was looking for.
y’all can think whatever you want about me, but i don’t think it’s out of line to ask you to justify your continued existence seeing as how we’re all being asked to pay for it and, as the unemployment stays high, those of us who still have jobs will obviously be paying more than the folks sucking up the unemployment dollars (who, apparently, are your main customers.)
but you make plenty of good points, and if y’all had been making them in a place most people actually read, and constantly (instead of just in times of crisis when your dollars are directly competing with fire companies and trash removal) you wouldn’t need to be defending yourself at all. good luck.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
@dx
You’ve proven yourself to be quite the smug little prick throughout this post. I found it especially funny how you blame your own ignorance about the libraries on librarians.
You also apparently don’t understand that unemployment benefits are taxable, as you very classily demonstrated while characterizing people who’ve lost their jobs as “sucking up” these benefits. Puts a nostalgic “welfare mothers” spin on the whole recession, no?
September 11th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
expat,
This is off topic but the fact that unemployment benefits are taxable is no longer relevant. When unemployment figures were normal, the insurance like structure of the benefits (workers pay into it and only a fraction use the benefits) maybe make these budget neutral (MAYBE). But unemployment benefits have been funded by the stimulus since the shit hit the fan, so really the tax paid on these benefits is just putting a tiny bit back into the pot. In other words, our tax dollars are being spent on unemployment benefits at a much faster rate than anything is being paid back into the programs.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@expat: uh, if its not the librarian’s job to tell people they do more than just shelve books, who’s job would that be, exactly?
if people come asking me to fight for them to keep their jobs on the public’s dime during a time when there just isn’t enough money to go around, i’m going to question why the jobs are worth fighting for. if that that makes me an asshole, so be it.
September 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@dx
No, you chose to pontificate on something you are ignorant about. Your ignorance and your ill-conceived opinion are your own responsibility. To say otherwise would be like claiming that it’s Stephen Hawking’s problem that you don’t understand String Theory better.
September 11th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
@expat: if mr hawking asked me to call my state reps and demand that he be allowed to have my tax dollars, i’d be asking him what i get out of the deal, too. and if i didn’t know shit about physics, i would expect him to explain why he deserves the money without condescending, namecalling, and making me feel stupid for not understanding what was so fucking great about his services.