My last column was written before Albany got around to finishing the state budget, and  I concluded it on a hopeful note that persistent underfunding of libraries in New York State would be ended this year.  My column is simply a report of my own observations and reflections as a small village library trustee dealing with various problems and successes, and, for the most part, it has been upbeat in tone. In general,  I have been optimistic that the combination of good intentions and directed efforts would ultimately lead this state to the goals of improved library service that are so obviously justified by reason and social responsibility. Perhaps, in the long, long run, there is room for some hope, but, as I write now in late summer of 1997, my view of the near future for libraries in New York State has darkened considerably.


This summer has been one of breakdowns small and large, local and statewide. The smell of dysfunction drifts in the air from various sources. On the lowest and personal level, my office disappeared twice into gulfs of permanent darkness due first to a computer server meltdown and later to my own PC's demise. On a higher level, our local library's elevator project for disabled access has been "almost" finished for months with only a couple of days of real work left to be done, but the contractor (the lowest bidder by law) faded into a phase of internal dissolution as key people quit the company. So, bit by bit, we are finishing pieces of the project by ourselves. But the greater shock to the library, perhaps to be shared by you sooner or later, is the local impact of the statewide budget shortfalls.

With the help of our library system (4CLS), we had been able to bring to this small village the advantages of online cataloging and internet access. But budgets shake the stick, and the Albany shakes many sticks. The means by which our library system has been able to help us has been eroded, and, after a couple of years of phasing in the costs, one quarter of our entire year's budget would be necessary just to maintain this present access. How is that as a symbol of the Empire State in the epoch of the information age.  A library in this once great state may revert to the Dark Ages of information access even during a period of economic recovery.  I know ...some of you will face even more grim prospects, but the basic source is the same. Your situation adds even more force to my dismay.

Beyond the local level, the darkness has been deepened considerably over the state by the larger and resonating clouds of dysfunction that sweep out of Albany. And these problems may not be fixable, at least not in the short run.


You already know the facts; so I won't recite them. Once again, Albany turned its governmental back upon libraries, continuing inadequate support for a service that is fundamental to a supposedly advanced society, granting a token increase to be spread microscopically across our huge and diverse state but finding many millions of dollars for frivolities, including even sports arenas. 

What do we make of this?

Over the past few years, the library community has lobbied and campaigned energetically for full and proper funding in New York State. Has the campaign been a failure? Well -- perhaps to your surprise -- I would say that it has been all and more than could be expected of it. Letters, petitions, contacts with legislators have been numerous and eloquent. During the last couple of years, over two thirds of the daily newspapers in the state were induced by NYLA's campaign to write editorials supporting the funding of libraries. Much of this exposure was unprecedented; so the case that was made to legislators was clear and undeniable, and it was delivered often and well. BUT IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE. When the ears are deaf or the hearers are irrelevant, arguments are wasted. Three years ago, they said that the state was in fiscal trouble and we would have to "tighten your belts" and to feel lucky if we were not cut. This last year, with $100's of millions of surplus available, the outcome was the same, with even fewer attempts at justification.

As I look at these recent years, I feel strongly that libraries have very good reason to be ANGRY. The failures that underlie this persistent underfunding belong not to the libraries but to a sick political system in this state which continually betrays the trust of all its citizens.

In New York State,  libraries struggle to survive on the table scraps of huge budgets that lurch elsewhere.  Libraries here find themselves competing for public funds with every other possible claimant, serious or frivolous. The scene is reminiscent of the hangers-on at Court, maneuvering and begging for largess from His (or Her) Majesty. Every claimant in such an arena is confronted by all other pleas... how many babies, jobs, battered women, jail cells, needles, sports arenas, etc. is a book or a library worth? The list is endless, dishonest and distracting.   To participate on such a level of competition is fundamentally wrong for libraries.  Scrambling for funding at this level of struggle conceals from everyone the true nature and function of libraries in a society which claims to be an advanced and healthy democracy. In Albany, libraries are pushed into this massive pool of political beggers rather than recognized as part of the vital infrastructure of the whole state that the government has the distinct and permanent responsibility to maintain, equal in importance with education and roads. 


There is certainly something wrong in the present situation, and it has reached the point where it is no longer acceptable. The loyalty of those who are supposed to be our representatives is hostage to the interests and ideologies of two political parties both of which are juvenile and strident in their mutual hostilities; core decision-making within the state resides within a mere handful of people (perhaps only three men plus their personal staffs); public deliberation about public issues does not really occur, for the representatives with whom the library community communicates are fundamentally powerless (especially as regards budget mattters), whether or not they understand the fundamental importance of libraries. Good men and women certainly exist among these legislators, but their influence is minimal; for the political cultures that have encrusted the institution are repressive and narrow. Politics has so defeated government in New York State that many people no longer recognize the difference between politics and government. Perhaps the libraries should reassert that distinction and firmly place themselves where they belong: as a measure of good government.

There are no great mysteries about the nature of politics or the principles of good government, however invisible the latter may be in this state. At the level of concrete decision-making, politics is always a struggle among competitors for something that they want; the goals and tactics of the struggles change through time, but they are usually petty, intense, and self-serving in nature. Government is expressed by the rule of law, illuminated by standards and procedures of fairness, truth-seeking, due process, respect and concern for the benefit of others, and it is embodied by individuals who truly wish to serve their communities and to support or create lasting institutions that will ensure for all the public the benefits of security and the resources that are necessary for individual accomplishments and opportunities in life. Politics is not government, and the distinction between the two is especially important in democracies; for when the exercise of a state's power is determined solely by politics, the result is nearly always a mosaic of exploitation, oppression, or confusion. In New York State, the distinction has been so blurred for so long that nearly everyone ... politician, public, newsmedia, and librarian alike... have forgotten it or have never learned it. Infighting and ideology have so captured the minds of the players that the fundamentals of healthy democracy have been blurred.

Libraries are notably weak in the gutter struggles of politics, but they are potentially strong on the level of the principles of good government. It is here that the libraries have the high ground, a moral position from which anger, judgment, education, and demands can be mounted, not just pleas for pity. This high ground is the set of historical standards upon which the public is asked to extend legitimacy to those in office, hence the rhetorical cloak with which contemporary politicians try to clothe themselves and their actions. They are also the standards with which politicians can and should be punished when their obsessions with politics, ideologies, and personal careers blind them too much to the real obligations of government. Libraries have three major resources in this regard. They are themselves matchless models of public service in an otherwise sullied society; they are a public function which is a measurable necessity, not just a frill, in any society which would be decent, modern and democratic; and they have unique professional resources to assemble the facts and the literature upon which to mount campaigns to educate the public about good government (and present failures). They have many ways to reach the public with their messages; they are neither isolated nor invisible. I chuckle when I think of a battalion of angry reference librarians (let loose by their trustees and coordinating their work via email) digging out the history and facts relevant in some way to library concerns, evaluating them against historic examples of good government, and periodically making the results public, say every couple of months, in a variety of ways.

Libraries should NOT become political. To ally ourselves with any political party would be wrong, even if there were to exist a party of some merit. But there is good reason why libraries should become centers of information and continual propaganda about the requirements of good government, regardless of political party. Not only is good government necessary for the survival of libraries, but effective libraries may be necessary for the survival of good government in the long run. If we are truly responsible institutions serving the intellectual and cultural needs of our citizens, this function of libraries is inherent in our purpose and goals; for where else in society is the message of good government effectively made to the young and old?  This is also a function that may eventually wrench some respect (perhaps bred from apprehension) from the political players who are powerful yet vulnerable to real questioning of their legitimacy.