Victoria Heller wrote:
WizardMarks wrote:WM: Fifty years ago those 200,000 people had far fewer books to contend with and no information technology to speak of. To that extent today is "different." The library at Alexandria was massive (I think that's what I was taught in school), but then everything was on a scroll or a clay tablet.
"This library system has been functioning well at it's present configuration for some fifty years or better (central, 14 branches, bookmobile). We have been able to afford it during all that time and suddenly were being told we cannot afford it."
Vicky responds:
Fifty years ago, the population in Minneapolis was 200,000 higher.
WM: Nor is it today. City spending may be misdirected, but it's not spiraling out of control.There were few sources for books and periodicals.....no one imagined the power and magnitude of the internet and the publishing industry. Fifty years ago, City spending and debt service was not spiraling out of control.
WM: They presently reflect fewer people, but more schoolchildren, since more of them are using library services for longer periods of time/day/week/year. Generally children only have bicycles, not cars. Older children and teens have the bus, bicycles, and feet.No one is proposing that the library system be abandoned -- just reduced to reflect fewer people, fewer schoolchildren, and more alternative sources of information -- including the Hennepin County Library System.
WM: What you are calling redundency is actually availability. The goal is to maintain and build on a literate population.Do any other cities have redundant library expenditures? This is a serious question: In Minnesota, do counties usually fund libraries, or cities? Are there any other cities within Hennepin or Ramsey Counties that have extra library systems?
WizardMarks, Central
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