It just doesn't make sense. Many public libraries are seeing large increases in users, circulation, etc. Yet the funding organizations still want to cut the dollars they give to libraries. The disconnect between the value librarians and many members of the public (users) place on library services (both inside and outside the building) versus how those who allocate funding think of library services seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. Most of the time increased demand (people want and find the service(s) useful) would bring more funding for more services. These days the opposite appears to be true. Why is this happening? Perhaps it once again comes down to marketing Both how we "sell our services" now and how we sold our services" three, five, and ten years ago. Add to that how we, the info pro, demonstrate(d) our value now and in the past. It just doesn't make sense.
Librarians and patrons say they fear free access to interlibrary loans and powerful computer databases will become the latest casualties of cuts the Legislature made to subsidies flowing to more than 3,000 public libraries.
She [M. Clare Zales, deputy secretary for libraries] noted that $11 million earmarked for free interlibrary loans and database access in 2008-09 was slashed to about $3 million for 2009-10.
[Snip]
Some library boards are weighing whether to charge patrons to cover the cost of mailing or trucking materials, said Maria Joseph, director of Moon Township Public Library.
"A lot of us don't want to do that," said Joseph, whose library handles hundreds of interlibrary trades a week. "The whole point of the library is to be free."
[Snip]
Carol Sepesky, a 20-year reference librarian and Monessen's assistant director, said losing access to the POWER Library collection of periodicals, scholarly papers, out-of-print classic books and accredited databases would be devastating to library users..."I had a woman here yesterday that was looking for peer-reviewed articles on teaching mathematics to children, and she found the full text of over 200 articles," Sepesky said. "A lot of libraries have cut a lot of subscriptions to magazines, and so they rely on POWER Library. Without it, we would not have anything."
[Snip]
Of the 501 school districts in Pennsylvania, 421 rely on POWER Library exclusively in their libraries, said Glenn R. Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association in Mechanicsburg.
"That means they buy no other resources and offer no other databases to students," he said.
Miller said demand for libraries is rising, growing 30 percent since 2000. Circulation in Pennsylvania increased 5 percent from 66,444,431 items in 2007 to 69,653,240 in 2008, which he called "an historic high."
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