He wasn't sure he could make a difference. Just one guy, holding a sign, showing up at the state Capitol. Trying to save the libraries.
Maybe legislators wouldn't listen. Maybe no one would care.
How much could one man matter?
But Paul Clark had to do something. He couldn't just sit there and let those elected officials drain funding from Florida's public libraries.
Where would all those people who didn't have computers go? How would they file for benefits or apply for jobs? What would he do? Without state money, he would lose his $45,000 position as the systems librarian for three rural counties near Tallahassee.
"I have to at least try," he told his wife, Karin.
...
Over the past six weeks, Clark spent 17 days in Tallahassee, holding up two, sometimes three signs at once, logging 12-hour shifts.
Clark would just stand quietly, mostly, hoping for someone to ask him — anything. He talked to 40 senators, almost as many representatives. Once, he waited two hours to have five seconds of face time with Sen. JD Alexander.
"That gentleman has been a fixture around here. I came to expect to see him," said Alexander, R-Lake Wales. "He's just a librarian who cares, who's been standing there, quietly reminding us how important this issue is. …
"When you see an individual citizen, taking his own time to be heard, that makes an impression,'' he said.
Monday night, just before midnight, state lawmakers reached a budget deal. They added $7 million to library funding, bringing the total to $21 million — enough to qualify for $8 million more in matching federal money.
Source: St. Petersburg Times
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