Librarians laid off, libraries to close all over Detroit

[socks_mahoney]

A community group I work with was supposed to have a meeting at the library in our neighborhood tonight. I got a phone call from the receptionist there today informing me that all the librarians had been laid off and the library had to close---so the meeting would be cancelled.

But the meeting is pretty inconsequential. The lady said that all the librarians are being laid off...this is not right.

A friend recently told me too that the main branch of DPL is going to close. I didn't believe him, until now.

Detroiters are going to have to stand up and say NO sooner than later.

[lilpup]

It was announced a while back that 85 library staff would be cut. To my knowledge the main branch isn't closing. There are lay-offs and closures happening at libraries nationwide. It's really surprising that DPL has held on as long as it has without a big move.

Troy is losing their library altogether since voters voted not to fund it.

[fryar]

'Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.' - Walter Cronkite

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110326/...#ixzz1HvaKZllM

[Hermod]

Keep the librarians.

Lay off the clowncil staffs.

[cman710]

This is sad, but not surprising, given the dire financial situation. I would expect more of these kinds of announcements in the coming years. Hopefully, the city can maintain some basic library service throughout the city, and at least at the main branch.

[English]

It isn't often that I agree with Hermod, but amen, and amen again.

[Mind field]

'Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.' - Walter Cronkite

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110326/...#ixzz1HvaKZllM

Too late. Our nation is already ignorant as hell. All people care about any more is playing video games, laughing at comedies, drinking, getting laid and useless gossip.

[bailey]

'Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.' - Walter Cronkite

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110326/...#ixzz1HvaKZllM

"What's a library, dad?"

"Oh, it's just a place where homeless people come to shave and go BM." -Family Guy.

I think that aptly sums up the region's perceptions of libraries.

[jt1]

The poorer the neighborhood the greater the need for libraries.
I woudl prefer that they keep them open but..... if they close them, will they reduce the 4.6 mill allocated for librarues from property taxes.

Seems like a specific line item in the mill rate that is for libraries should only go to libraries. A reduction in operating cost by the libraries should result in a deduction in the mill rate.

[Detroitnerd]

Interesting article on the dangers posed to public goods, such as libraries, by free market fundamentalism.

QUOTE: Like all fundamentalists who get their clammy hands on the levers of power, the market fanatics are going to kill off every humane, life-enhancing, generous, imaginative and decent corner of our public life. We're coming to see that old Karl Marx had his finger on the heart of the matter when he pointed out that the market in the end will destroy everything we thought was safe and solid."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...kill-libraries

[English]

Too late. Our nation is already ignorant as hell. All people care about any more is playing video games, laughing at comedies, drinking, getting laid and useless gossip.

Unfortunately, yes. There is also a kind of rank selfishness that I see growing among people. Today, I had some conversations about the erosion of the notion of not only the public good, but "public" anything -- public education, public television, public radio, public sector workers, the public in general. My sense is that people are frightened and want to cocoon themselves and their families against further financial hardships.

We will continue to get rid of our institutions and privatize everything as long as people trust the largesse of corporations over government and nonprofits. Where we go next from this historical moment is anyone's guess. As a liberal, I don't like this, and feel that we haven't learned our lessons from the 2008 crash. My conservative friends tend to believe that when we bailed out Wall Street and the Big Three, we ruined things. In the end, I believe that historians will judge Bush and Obama's bailout and stimuli as a mistake. The only question remaining is how colossal -- is this the beginning of a temporary period of austerity, or is the end of the America we knew?

[Eric_c]

Well, if the libraries close, then they'd better damn-well put up those steel, anchored window and door covers or else they'll be nothing to come back to.

THIS is the truth, people!

Anybody know anybody of consequence within the library system to remind them of this simple, probably unthought of, yet very real precaution?

Mark my words: if certain safegaurds aren't taken the *minute* these buildings close, there will be pics all over this site within a matter of months, if not weeks, of rifled, ruined, scrapped-out library buildings blighting our neighborhoods.

Lay off a few more librarians if it means we can have a routine security patrol protecting our public buildings and already-fragile streetscapes.

[Yooper]

Librarians will eventually be obsolete.
All resources will be scanned and digitized. There will be no need for libraries as we know them.
Over my 40 years of going to libraries, not once have I relied on a "librarian" for any assistance whatsoever.
I feel sad saying this, but it's just reality.

[Detroitnerd]

Librarians will eventually be obsolete.
All resources will be scanned and digitized. There will be no need for libraries as we know them.
Over my 40 years of going to libraries, not once have I relied on a "librarian" for any assistance whatsoever.
I feel sad saying this, but it's just reality.

That's preposterous. Are you aware that librarians are now "media specialists"? They help you wade through all that information. Just because information gets scanned in doesn't mean society doesn't benefit from having somebody to help you find accurate, reliable information.

So don't feel sad. You're wrong.

[Yooper]

Media specialists?
We all have libraries in our homes via the net.

What exactly is this assistance you require?
Boolean searches trump human brains every time.

[Detroitnerd]

Studies show that students using the Internet can find an answer most of the time.

The only problem is that half of the time it is an incorrect answer.

Media specialists perform the same functions as librarians: They help you find good, solid, reputable information. Seems an important thing to me.

But, heck, those boolean searches producing bogus information half the time must be good enough, huh?

[fryar]

Or maybe content-aggregation, with crowd-sourced input, for many subjects, at least? I also can't say I have ever really tried to max out the capabilities of my local librarian. For all I know, they could be an undegreed clerk of some kind.

But there's no way Wikipedia makes a local library redundant.

[Yooper]

Ok, let's have a contest.

I will be on an iPad and you can run to your local librarian.

PS. I have the Library of Congress at my fingertips in the millisecond range.

Not to mention thousands of Universities worldwide and thousands of databases.

For free.

Ask your librarian how to access these resources. They probably have a bank of computers hooked up to the net for research.

Ask your librarian about patents...or you could go to the USPTO directly...

[Yooper]

"Studies show that students using the Internet can find an answer most of the time.

The only problem is that half of the time it is an incorrect answer."

That is an outright lie.

[Yooper]

"Studies show that students using the Internet can find an answer most of the time.

The only problem is that half of the time it is an incorrect answer."

Did your librarian share this little factoid with you, or was this something you learned using the 50/50 Internet?

[Detroitej72]

Cons would love to see all the library's closed. In their minds its taxpayer money wasted that only benefits folks who choose to be too poor to buy books or computers.

[Yooper]

PS I'm liberal, and love libraries.

[DetroitPole]

15 years ago when the internet became accessible to regular people, they were predicting the demise of libraries.

Well, that hasn't happened, and there is no indication that will. The problem is funding, not their usefulness.

The internet is great, but if you've gotten a college degree recently from an accredited university you probably already know that using the internet for research, unless on a scholarly journal website, is usually discouraged. Why? Any asshole can put anything on the internet. Sure assholes can get things published too, but it isn't quite as easy. Internet sources are, and always will be, largely unreliable. Hell, I can make a Wikipedia article say whatever I want right now. Then you would read it, and I hope you wouldn't take it at face value.

Detroit has done a fairly good job of maintaining its library system, all things considered. I for one will never understand the right-wing hatred of libraries. They are one of the few resources in our society that low-income or low-education people can use to better themselves. Their computer labs and community programs are also vital so these folks can get jobs, spruce up their resumes, and keep out of trouble. I got a formal education but being a voracious reader may have done me the most good in life; I wouldn't have been able to do it without a library system - Detroit's.

I know cuts have to be made and I can show them where to start. The librarians have always been very helpful to me - however I've rarely had a good experience with the front-desk staff [[who are not librarians). They're either exceedingly rude or totally robotic. Frankly I think they're relatives of people in the system who needed jobs, they're so inept. Cut them; keep the libraries open and librarians working. You could get 1 intelligent, thoughtful lab rat to do a better job than 5 of those turds scowling at the Cass entrance of the main library.

[canuck]

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin

A bit of levity on a funereal occasion. I commiserate, believe you me.

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...#ixzz1HwC6EVdT

[Yooper]

>>>Internet sources are, and always will be, largely unreliable.<<<

Not sure what your "sources" are, but let's say you were doing research on the latest high efficiency power conversion technology...green energy stuff, latest topologies and technologies.

I wouldn't even consider going to a library, except for silence.

The information shared by scholars online is staggering.
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