The recent decision by the Joint Powers Authority to close Santa
Clara County libraries on Mondays is not surprising, but is
dispiriting.
The recent decision by the Joint Powers Authority to close Santa Clara County libraries on Mondays is not surprising, but is dispiriting.
After last March’s narrow defeat of Measure B, which just barely missed the unreasonable two-thirds majority threshold needed for approval, cuts in service were inevitable to close a $1.1 million budget shortfall. The Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the nine library system, had little choice but to approve the Monday shutdown, which officially begins Oct. 11.
The failure of library supporters to convince 67 percent of voters in communities served by the Santa Clara County Library system to approve a $42 per year parcel tax to replace a $33.66 parcel tax that sunsets next year is one big reason libraries are shortening their hours.
While taxpayers shoulder some of the blame for the current situation, we also point a bony finger of blame in Sacramento’s direction. Our libraries have been the victims of chronic funding cuts from state politicians.
While the state prison system sees funding increases, our libraries suffer repeated cuts in funding. While legislators make sure to increase the salaries of their aides, they don’t consider library funding a priority.
Because politicians and voters both gave libraries a low priority, we must now pay the price. And that price is that most libraries will now be closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Sadly, students will soon have one less day to use local libraries for study and research. Those who depend on libraries for Internet and e-mail access will have fewer hours to use the expensive but increasingly necessary technology. Anyone who wants to expand their intellect or entertainment with books, periodicals, videos and software will find a much shorter time frame to do so.
But bemoaning the current situation isn’t the only thing we can do. We can contact the governor and our state Senate and Assembly representatives in Sacramento to tell them to make reasonable library funding a high priority. Reversing the cuts that have stripped libraries of basic funds would go a long way toward restoring hours and materials to our libraries.
We can ask Assemblyman John Laird and his challenger Jack Barlich (27th district, Morgan Hill and San Martin) and Abel Maldonado and Peg Pinard, both running for the 15th State Senate District (Morgan Hill and San Martin) what their priorities about library funding are.
We can remind our friends and neighbors of the important role libraries play in our communities. Maybe then, when the parcel tax makes an appearance on the ballot, most likely in June 2005, enough of us will vote for it that we can return to a six-day-a-week library system.
How a society chooses to spend its money is a reliable priorities check. Let’s work together to make libraries a much higher priority in our community.
