We tell children: “Be quiet when you’re in a library. People are reading.”
Those children/library patrons need us to use our mighty voices now. All across our beloved country, libraries are in danger. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 6 branches in Oakland deserve our rallies.
Case in Point:
The mayor’s budget proposal, scheduled to go into effect July 1st 2009, will slash the open hours for Lakeview, Temescal, Golden Gate, Elmhurst, Martin Luther King and Melrose library branches in Oakland. These branches would only open 2 or 3 days per week! Schools that don’t have libraries, neighborhood kids, seniors, people without computers, and the unemployed looking for work will be severely affected.
77.2% voters had voted YES to Measure Q (to increase libraries hours and services, not to cut them)
Keep ALL Oakland Libraries open 5 or 6 days a week! How can we help?
Visit:
http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com
Wherever you are, you can use the strategies proposed by the Oakland groups:
- Ask questions and offer resources
- Create an action plan, organize and more organize–strength in number
- Craft consistent talking-points to hook politicians’ attention
Contact your library to find out if any branch in your city or county are in danger. We can use our mighty voices not only through public speaking but also through writing, spreading the word, and letting cyberspace carry our messages far and wide.
Hope to see WNBA members at the San Francisco Library Main Branch on June 2 for the Effie Lee Morris Lecture. Please RSVP by visiting home page http://wnba-sfchapter.org for instructions.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Teresa LeYung Ryan
WNBA-SF Chapter Member-at-Large
Thank you, Teresa, for this most important post urging everyone to support our libraries – can’t imagine life without them or the feel of a book in my hand as I escape into pure enjoyment after a day on the computer. Reading from screens removes one from the intimacy of reading beloved books. See you next Tuesday at Effie Lee Morris’ lecture at the SF Public Library – what a place!