“Minneapolis libraries are in terrible financial condition. Not even during the 1930s was library staff reduced by 27 percent, as occurred last year, or were branch library doors closed three and four days per week, as they are today. No other major American city offers library patrons fewer hours of service.” – Library Board must reach out, an editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Hooray! Those are the big issues with the MPL. Why is it that the news side of the Minneapolis Strib took time out to beat up on little blogs for criticizing the silly fund-raising campaign featuring Mao the ex-librarian–but spent too many months downplaying basic library needs? If I’d run the paper, I would have had a people-oriented story every at least every week or two, along with a steady stream of editorials putting pressure on the miserly state politicans who cheated the librarians and the kids who relied on them.
Also, here’s a radical idea. Is it possible that the MPL could raise money by renting out space its expensive new downtown branch (under construction) to bookstores and other compatible business? The funds in return could go toward extending library hours. Needless to say, over the long term, e-books have a role to play in reducing the real estate needs of large systems such as MPL’s. But first, let’s see the good people of Minneapolis focus on the basics of the here and now.
The Strib is absolutely right to call for some changes in the makeup of the library board so MPL can more successfully lobby the state for urgently needed funds. The Mao campaign hardly advanced that cause. It was supposed to show how libraries fostered intellectual freedom, but as an invented controversy, it stole attention from very real ones such as concern over the Patriot Act–while at the same time needlessly alienating potential library supporters.
Follow-up: The Mao graphics are still online from the Friends group. Does anyone know if the use of this butcher’s image actually raised any money?
