Hundreds turn out for read-in to save Salinas libraries (CA)

[struggle4progress]

Associated Press


SALINAS, Calif. - More than 100 people watched the sun rise Sunday as supporters who turned out for a 24-hour read-in to help save the libraries in John Steinbeck's hometown prepared for a culmination march.

"There was quite a few people who spent the night. There were tents set up, and people just kept reading all night long," Mary Mecartney, a national spokeswoman for the United Farm Workers, said Sunday morning. "The energy is still high here." <snip>

After noon, 2,000 UFW members joined the remaining group at the library to march through downtown Salinas to a food and music festival to mark the end of the 24-hour marathon reading event. Marchers chanted: "Libros, si! Bombas, no!" - Spanish for "books, yes, bombs, no."

Mecartney said thousands of people signed petitions asking their state legislators to reconsider budget cuts that are set to force the closure of the libraries. <snip>

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/11303363.htm

[stevedeshazer]

1. "Libros, si! Bombas, no!"

Oh, the irony. Steinbeck's home town.

[alarimer]

2. I've been in those libraries

This is a real shame. I hope they can save them.

[slor]

3. They are closing libraries in Cincinnati too...

but I guess a dumb populace is what the rethugs need.

[rodeodance]

4. another sign of the deteriation of America's infrastructure--it is not jus

bridges and roads but public financing of eductional sites such asthis.

[struggle4progress]

7. Bingo. eom

[katty]

9. Closing Libraries and building more prisons...

america's endarkenment

[FreeStateDemocrat]

5. The strength of our democracy is a well informed electorate.

When they close libraries thereby denying the poor and disadvantaged unfettered access to the power of information, all hope is lost. Turn out the lights the party is over. The American dream turns into the American nightmare.

[tanyev]

6. Bedford, TX just closed its library through

October--the end of the fiscal year. It is in the heart of white suburbia, but they recently had an election to lower property taxes. It left the city's budget in such a shambles they are closing the library and reducing other city services for the rest of the year. They are hoping to reopen it in the next fiscal year, but nobody is making any guarantees. Shameful.

[Rose Siding]

8. They did it:"Libraries Rescued in Steinbeck Country"

The Salinas Public Library, where Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck's first literary study was nurtured, has been thrown a financial lifeline.

Fundraisers came up with $500,000 after local government officials said they could no longer afford to pay for the facilities. The donations will keep three libraries in the financially strapped community open on a limited basis through December.
.....
Nationwide, Americans each spend about $25 a year for local public library services — about the cost of a newly published hardcover book — and check out an average of six books a year, according to the American Library Association. Since 2002, library funding cuts have approached $100 million around the country, with more than 2,100 jobs eliminated and 31 libraries closed, according to the association.

Steinbeck, one of 10 Americans to win the Nobel Prize for literature, was born in Salinas in 1902 and lived there for 17 years until he started attending Stanford University. Steinbeck often visited the library while he was growing up, said Susan Shillinglaw, director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-040705steinbeck_lat,0,6250138.story?coll=la-home-local

[Lisa]

10. thanks for the update!

It's not just the books either -- a lot of libraries have videos and DVDs, CDs, and public internet -- my local library has 8 branches (and another opening next year) plus a mobile service, and all their collections and programmes have heavy use.

The closest branch started its DVD collection in Sept 2003 and they've got at least 500 by now ... but on a typical day you go in and you're lucky to see a dozen on the shelf. All the rest are checked out. The AV librarian told me that they've got items that have been borrowed in excess of 300 times. I have been donating DVDs to them because they are so desperate for material -- more than a hundred people had put holds on Fahrenheit 9/11 in the first week it was available -- and the system can't afford to supply all the branches with the latest releases because those new and special-edition DVDs can cost $30-40 a pop.

[struggle4progress]

11. Cool!