The Money May Be Lacking, but a Library Refuses to Go Quietly (R.I.)

[ensho]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/us/central-falls-ri-library-fights-to-stay-open.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23


If you were to assemble a city from scratch, you would need a few things to make this place of yours more than just a functioning municipality; to make it a community. So, along with a City Hall and a few schools, you would have a building where an elephant king named Babar rules, where it is a sin to kill a mockingbird and where everyone from Homer to Snooki has a story to tell.

That is, you would need a library.

-snip-

In July, a state-appointed receiver closed the library to save money. The six staff members lost their jobs, while residents lost access to the statewide network that allowed them to borrow from the libraries of other towns. The handsome building went dark, its books unread, its videos unwatched, its computers unavailable to those looking for jobs.

-snip of how they solved the problem-

A month later, on Aug. 1, the Adams Memorial Library reopened with limited hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Its reference and checkout desks are now staffed by a rotating band of volunteers, including Jerauld Adams, 41, the board chairman of the library trust, and Thomas Shannahan, 68, a board member and former director of the library. They hung a sign on the front door that said, with some defiance:

“Welcome to YOUR library.”

-snip-
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wonderful! hugs and kisses all around

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Everything about a library is virtuous. n/t

[xchrom]

2. +1

[starroute]

3. Whose library? OUR library!

This is the virtuous opposite of privatization. I don't know how far it can go, but I see it as a positive sign.