Life of a Sentient Search Engine

UPDATE (8/3/09): The Ohio Legislature and the Governor have agreed to a budget with more managable, yet no less destructive cuts.

UPDATE: For the most up to the minute information, refer to the Ohio Library Council site specifically this article.

I don’t usually comment on politics publicly. I frankly don’t care to share my opinion with others, as I don’t really care about theirs. However, sometimes things happen that are, frankly, so boneheaded that I can’t help myself.

The Governor of my state, Ted Strickland, has lost what remaining respect I had for him (limited though that might have been in the first place). In his revised budget proposal, he has proposed cutting the Public Library Fund $227,000,000, roughly half of the $400,000,000 fund over the next biennium. He has other proposals to cut funds OhioLINK for Adult Education and GED programs.

So, in a down economy, this genius’s idea of good policy is to gut the institutions that help people acquire new skills to reenter the workforce, support the public education system, and otherwise facilitate the enlightenment of humanity.

I am, perhaps understandably, a bit biased on this issue. After all, I am a Librarian that lives in Ohio, and this proposal both goes against my professional beliefs and seriously threatens my livelihood. I have to say that I am honestly at least as concerned about the folks most affected by this idiocy, Library customers, as I am for myself.  They rely on their libraries for services including checking-out materials, reference service, storytime and children’s programming, job searching, entertainment, homework assistance, and countless other things.

I understand that Ohio is facing a serious budget shortfall. I would have been understanding, even amenable, to a modest, responsible cut in funding. This goes far beyond what is responsible. For my library, this will be devastating as it is. If the cut is applied evenly across the board, my library, supported by the state and a local levy, looks to loose roughly a quarter an eighth of its funding. Other small libraries rely wholly on on the state funding and will loose half a quarter of their total revenue with a single piece of Legislation. As few entities can afford to loose half so much of their funding and survive, many (indeed most of the smallest) won’t, especially considering the pressure many already face. Those that do will may have to so drastically significantly roll back services that they will be shadows of what they once were.

I’m honestly having trouble coming up with intelligent things to say, as this proposal is so utterly foolish that I can’t really think straight at the moment. When will people and politicians get it in their head that libraries are not luxuries or amenities, but requirements for a modern, technological, economically viable society.

If you care about Ohio libraries, please contact your state representatives and state senators. This is not law yet. Hopefully we can get enough outrage build up that the cuts can be reduced to a more tolerable level.

I am not hopeful however. After all, the local headlines about this proposal read something to the affect that “Governor Supports Expansion of Gambling to Cover Budget Shortfall” rather than “Governor Guts Library Funding While Claiming to Protect Education”.

Ohio has long enjoyed some of the best libraries in the country. If this cut in funding comes to fruition, this seems likely to end. Saddest of all, it will be through no fault of their own.