[Genealib] FW: Help save the Library of MI - cast a yes vote by 7 PM tonight (7/30/09)

[Grundset, Eric]

>From a friend of mine in eastern Michigan:
Subject: Help save the Library of MI - cast a yes vote by 7 PM tonight
(7/30/09)


There is a poll on the Lansing State Journal web site asking if people
have ever
done genealogy research at a library.

Please long on and vote YES by 7pm TODAY.  The poll is located in the
center of the
LSJ home page in a large rectangle about halfway down.  The website is:

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/

(click or copy and paste the link.)

Please share with others...let's make a difference!

http://www.wmgs.org/HandsAroundTheLibrary.htm
> 
Article published July 24, 2009
Granholm cost-cutting move threatens to dismantle the Library of
Michigan
By FLORENCE DETHY
BLADE STAFF WRITER 


Librarians and library advocates across the state of Michigan are
mobilizing to defend the Library of Michigan, which could be dismantled
and its collections scattered in a budget-cutting move. 

An executive order from Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week
transferred control of the Library of Michigan in Lansing to the
Department of Education and recommended the department implement
cost-cutting measures that library advocates believe may leave state
residents without an important resource. 

While previously the state library had operated under the Department of
History, Arts, and Libraries, and in that capacity been able to allocate
its budget as it saw fit, the order abolished that department at a
savings to the state of $2 million. 

The new structure gives the state Department of Education final approval
over the Library of Michigan's budget, and library advocates say that
increases the likelihood of dramatic cost cuts and possibly a
dismantlement and relocation of the library's extensive collections. 

"The proposal to take the Library of Michigan and maybe not even have a
library building anymore would be a tremendous loss to the community,"
said James Seidl, director of the Woodlands Library Cooperative, a group
of 49 libraries in southern Michigan. 

He spoke in reference to a proposal, also made last week, to move the
Library of Michigan from its current quarters to make room for the
establishment of a Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention, an
as-yet unformed entity that the governor hopes will draw visitors to the
state and create opportunities for residents. 

But opponents of the proposal say making such a change would be a
logistical nightmare. 

"Distributing or removing these collections destroys 180 years of
collecting, cataloging, and preserving materials," Mr. Seidl said. 

At present, the Library of Michigan houses 5.6 million items in about 27
miles of shelving. 

As such, dismantling its collections would be only the first in a series
of hurdles that administrators would face - there is also the matter of
preserving the collections and re-cataloging them once they are moved to
another location. 

But the executive order did not just transfer control over the library. 

It also charged the superintendent of public instruction at the
Department of Education with making cost cuts such as stopping the
circulation of certain library collections; suspending or eliminating
the Library of Michigan's participation in MeLCat, the state's eLibrary
catalogue and resource-sharing system used by public libraries and
residents across the state, and eliminating or transferring to other
suitable institutions the non-Michigan Genealogy collection. That is a
collection that draws researchers from across the country. 

According to the order, the cuts should be made "unless the
superintendent determines it to be impracticable." 

And so far, at least one group has stepped forward with plans to
demonstrate against the proposed cuts. 

After assembling on the lawn of the State Capitol on Aug. 5, the
Michigan Genealogical Council is planning to march to the library to
join "Hands Around the Library." 

The event is in protest of the proposed fracturing of the Library of
Michigan genealogy collection, much of which the council's members have
donated to the state over the years. 

And while not planning a protest, the Michigan Library Association is
urging Governor Granholm and the legislature to maintain the library
system's level of services, to keep state aid to Michigan's public
libraries at $10 million in 2009, and to retain the position of the
state librarian. 

Mr. Seidl said the Woodlands Library Cooperative, fearing the governor's
order indicates imminent cuts in state aid, plans to place a card in
every state-circulated book and on every public-service computer that
asks patrons to contact their local representative and senator to
support a continuation of state aid. 

The aid is important, Mr. Seidl said, because of the federal match
dollars it allows the library system to draw down. 

Historically the state librarian has used those federal funds to pay for
the state's subscription to more than 200 online databases, a
subscription that allows Michigan residents to access the resources
anywhere in the world provided they have a valid Michigan driver's
license or library card. 

If state aid drops much below its current level of $9.6 million, he
said, the federal match dollars may decline to such a level that the
state pulls funding for the databases. 

But while the ax may be poised, for now it's business as usual at the
Library of Michigan. 

"We haven't been shut down by any means, thank goodness," said State
Librarian Nancy Robertson, who was appointed to the position in
November, 2005. 

"We're still circulating our collections and our staff is serving
patrons and our library system. None of the services we provide have
come to a screeching halt," she said. 

She said she is looking forward to having a productive relationship with
the superintendent of public instruction, to whom she will be reporting
at the Department of Education. 

That relationship will be especially important, she said, because it is
likely that hard decisions will have to be made when the library
receives its budget. 

She explained that the library traditionally has made paying for the
e-library system its top priority when allocating the federal funds it
received. 

"My expectation is to continue to support the Michigan e-library. Our
intent would be not to have any service change except for the positive,"
Ms. Robertson said, but added, "that's given with the caveat that the
budget hasn't been finalized." 

As part of the executive order, the position of state librarian has been
abolished as a governor's appointment and instead has been made a
civil-service position. 

Asked about whether the state would likely cut funding for the library
system below the $10 million mark, a spokesman for the governor said it
would be impossible to say what the funding level for the program would
be. 

Unless Michigan's House and Senate reject it, the executive order will
go into effect Oct. 1. 

Contact Florence Dethy at:
fdethy at theblade.com
or 419-724-6064. 

  

P.S The Lansing State Journal also just called after reading the Blade
story. 

  

James C. Seidl 

Director 

Woodlands Library Cooperative 

415 S. Superior St.  Suite A 

Albion, MI 49224 

517 629 9469 Phone 

517 629 3812 Fax 

For those of us who appreciate and cherish our Michigan roots, what is
happening to the Library of Michigan and the Archives is absolutely
outrageous.  What kind of people are running our State?  

Having worked at the Library of Michigan I think closing it is a
travesty.  It truly grieves me.  Many of the items are not replaceable.
I wonder how an elected official can, with the stroke of a pen, abolish
an institution that was established before Michigan statehood - it's not
just a state department.    How can someone disperse a collection that
has been built up with taxpayers dollars and belongs to the taxpayers?
Also, the many gifts of money and materials from groups and foundations
especially the Abrams Foundation that have built the collection for the
state library not for a state university - can these just be given away?
The Genealogy collection has been built up to be one of the largest in
the country!   This building was built with taxpayers dollars for the
library, archives and museum not for a public school system or a science
museum or any other use.   How can the Governor change this?   I think
our state constitution definitely
needs to be fixed to put a stop to this kind of power and abuse of
power.   And shame on all of those public officials who have been
meeting to slice and dice this building up, including the City of
Lansing and the Lansing Public Schools, without open meetings for the
public and library community.  And shame on the Governor via MSU for
giving money to a company in New Jersey last spring to tell us what to
do.  I think the citizens of Michigan probably can figure it out on
their own.   I'm sure the library community could come up with some
great ideas! 


To me this whole mess is a reflection of term limits which means that no
one has any collective memory of the struggle it was to build that
building nor any pride in our state treasures.  What a sad day for the
late Senator Faust who worked so diligently to get it funded. 

Another thought - why is the Governor's husband speaking at MLA this
fall?  That seems really inappropriate to me.  I certainly will have to
give a lot of thought about attending such a conference!

I want to offer whatever help I can give to the effort to save this
beautiful state treasure. 


Virginia McKane 

Assistant Director 

Grace A. Dow Memorial Library 

1710 West St. Andrews 

Midland, MI  48640 

(989) 837-3438 

vmckane at midland-mi.org