Cutting library hours hurts all of us

To balance their budgets, cities could cut money from public libraries, but doing so would affect people from every corner of the city, and would cause more money to be spent elsewhere. Is it worth the cost?

As I mentioned last Monday, the Seattle Public Library has been asked to cut five percent of its budget, which it proposes to do by severely reducing its service hours - by 23% overall. Keeping libraries open as centers of opportunity and education for communities, including the unemployed and families trying to better themselves, is a smart use of limited resources.

Many vocal opponents of the library closings attended a city budget meeting last Monday night. One attendee, Tony Provine, a Seattle Public Library board member, explained to the city council how valuable the city’s libraries are:

In many parts of Seattle, libraries serve as community centers, meeting places, job resources, social service centers, public education facilities, and much more. They provide safe havens for at risk youth and offer homework assistance for students. They provide shelter and internet communications for the impoverished. They are anchors in each of their communities.

This is pretty crucial stuff. The library is where civic and social groups meet, and where students of all ages go for help. Here’s an example of some of the happenings at Seattle’s libraries this week: homework help, English as a second language classes, a basic computer skills class, baby and toddler story time, a teen library adviser program, a citizenship class and a disaster preparation workshop. These are events that make people and communities stronger. Where else can you get so many different services under one roof, and what other facilities are available to provide these services?

Money cut from libraries would be spent on crime prevention, since young people would have one less safe place to hang out and to get help with their school work. Seattle would take in less tax revenue because the unemployed would have fewer resources to find new jobs or to educate themselves in order to find better paying ones. Some library users have found the library to have the most comprehensive job-search facilities available to them.

If the proposed cuts are approved, Seattle neighborhoods would have less access to one of their most democratic institutions. The library is open to all and affords all people equal opportunity to enjoy its resources.

The Friends of the Seattle Public Library, a library support group, are keeping pressure on the city council to maintain the library’s budget. They are asking Seattle library users to email the council asking them to keep the libraries open. To help them reach their goal of 500 emails, just send a short email to budget@seattle.gov. Something like this will do:

Subject line: Restore branch library hours. Text: My name is ____. I use the ____ library. Please restore branch library hours.

Trimming $72 million out of Seattle’s city budget is an ugly task, but citizens rely on their libraries even more during hard times. Reducing access to them now will impact people of all ages and from every neighborhood.