

California Cuts All State Funding for Libraries  - MRonney
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/893065-264/with_mid-year_cut_california_reduces.html.csp

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Lazare
I yield to no one in my steadfast love of libraries, and I'm sure that the
state government could have found better places to make cuts. However...

...this would be slightly more interesting if it wasn't only a 3% cut to the
funding of Californian libraries.

(Well, according to my back of the envelope calculation. The linked article
claims the entire $30m of state funding has been cut. As of 2007, Californian
libraries were apparently getting total funding (federal, state and local) of
$26.47 per person. The population of California is 37m in 2009, which implies
that California has total library spending of around $920m/year. And $30m is
only 3% of $920m. To crosscheck, I found a report from 2000 that estimates
total US library spending at $12b/year, and since California has around 12% of
the total US population, that would imply around a $1.5b/year in spending. I
assume spending has gone up quite a bit since then, so $920m/year certainly
doesn't seem too high. I'd welcome better numbers if anyone can find them!)

Again, I don't support these cuts. But the article lacks context, and what
context I can find from a few minutes of searching makes this seem very
underwhelming.

(Related: back in around 2003 some people loved to talk about how Bush had
increased federal education spending by 70% in his first three years. Quite
true, but quite misleading if you didn't know that it was being increased from
a base of effectively _nil_ , since the federal government isn't responsible
for education. Context matters!)

~~~
nknight
Actually, the article has plenty of context for its intended audience. It
specifies that it's state funding, lists the programs being cut, and notes the
primary concern of advocates: equal access.

The publication is called "Library Journal". It's not intended for the general
public, it's intended for librarians and others concerned with the operation
of libraries. That audience will have no trouble understanding the article.

~~~
Lazare
You're right, and I was not intending to criticize the article as such, but
rather the submission. It is relevant, important news to librarians, and
contained all the context it needed.

But I doubt one person in 100 who saw it on Hacker News had that context. And
in particular, I suspect the people commenting on the article in apocalyptic
terms do not have that context. But it was a perfectly fine article. :)

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wayne_h
The government wants to raise taxes. (We are already the highest taxed state.)
To soften up the voters they will threaten to cut things that are popular.
Beaches, Parks, libraries, police, fire.. release the prisoners etc etc.. I
say good go ahead... its scare tactics. Even if they do cut these things then
maybe enough people will notice and throw them out. They recently announced
cutting funding to animal shelters, so strays will be killed in a 72 hours.

In other news... it was recently revealed that parking lot attendants at the
Dept Of Water earn $74,000 per year. LA city has a $1M yacht (they kept
hidden). They used $500K in obama 'stimulus money' to install new engines.

Starve the beast. No more money. Wake-up voters - dont be fooled.

~~~
benmccann
We actually pay taxes comparable to other states (California is 23rd in tax
revenue per capita), but have our taxes distributed much differently. Things
we pay higher taxes on: 14th in revenue per capita deriving from property
taxes, 12th in income taxes per capita, 21st in sales tax per capita, 5th in
corporate tax revenue per capita, 4th in estate taxes per capita. Things we
bring in less revenue from: 35th in lottery revenue per capita, 32nd in
cigarette tax rate, 41st in excise taxes per capita.

~~~
rdl
I assume property tax revenues in CA are high mainly due to the high value of
CA real estate, not that the rates themselves are high -- they're not high
rates (compared to the East Coast, maybe 25-50%) and due to Prop 13, they're
not at market rate on many properties.

CA tax is highly variable year to year -- 10.3% on capital gains (and other
income) of rich people, largely happens based on business cycle factors. Same
with corporate tax.

~~~
Retric
What's really odd about property taxes in CA is they only go up a fixed amount
per year which has not kept up with growing property values in many areas. So,
even though property values have dropped significantly revenue has not dropped
as much as other states.

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olefoo
The phrase "Eating the seed corn." comes to mind.

Also the old anarchist saw:

    
    
       "Libraries will get you through times of no money better
       than money will get you through times of no libraries"

~~~
tzs
Wikipedia says that comes from Anne Herbert in "The Next Whole Earth Catalog".
Are you sure it has an anarchist connection?

It's probably inspired by this earlier quote from Gilbert Shelton's wonderful
"The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" comix:

    
    
       "Dope will get you through times of no money
        better than money will get you through times
        of no dope."

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ajays
I'm often surprised to see that few people get what's going on.

Jerry Brown wants to raise taxes (yet again). But the public at large is tired
of waste, and refuses to go along.

So the Governor proposes cuts to those things that cause maximum pain to the
public: state parks, libraries, etc. A fairer approach would, say, cut funding
across the board. A $30M budget item in a $100Billion budget works out to,
0.03% ? If he did that, no one would notice and no one would yelp in pain. So,
to drive the point home and make the public notice, you go for the public's
soft spots.

The first thing Jerry Brown did when he took office was to sign contracts with
the powerful unions in the state. Once they were happy, he turned around and
started crying about the budget. Since their contracts are signed now, they
can't be subject to these budget cuts; base secured!

More on California's budget woes:

[http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/11/michael-...](http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/11/michael-
lewis-201111)

~~~
jbooth
"So the Governor proposes cuts to those things that cause maximum pain to the
public: state parks, libraries, etc."

You're bringing me back here. I was a selectman once in a small town in
massachusetts, we had budget problems, put the option to a town in a vote:
raise taxes or we lay off teachers.

Know what we got from the taxpayers? "How DARE you threaten to lay off
teachers unless we let you raise taxes".

It's as if there's some giant line-item labeled WASTE somewhere, and Brown is
stubbornly refusing to cut it and insisting on cutting useful things instead,
in order to fulfill his liberal dream of taxing people.

I'll admit that I don't know the ins and the outs of the california budget.
But I'd imagine he's cutting everything except for the things he's legally not
allowed to cut, and attempting to save "must-haves" like emergency response at
the expense of luxuries like parks and libraries.

~~~
ajays
The stories of waste in California's budget are legendary.

There's a reason why a study showed that given a choice between Harvard and
the California Prison Guards' academy, you are better off if you pick becoming
a prison guard!

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itmag
Can startups solve this problem somehow? After all, there _is_ a market need
for libraries, it just might not be obvious since it's somewhat hidden by the
taxation model.

What would a free-market public library look like? And I'm not thinking
McDonald's capitalism here, I'm thinking more like Google capitalism. What
would the Gmail of public libraries be like?

The way I see it public libraries offer three things: physical books, physical
locations, curators of content. So how could this be done in a different,
startup-y way?

Physical books: maybe something involving print-on-demand technologies?

Physical locations: maybe something that piggybacks on existing physical
locations?

Curators of content: I dunno, crowdsourced mobile/local/social librarians?

I am only half-kidding with this comment...

~~~
yummyfajitas
_What would a free-market public library look like?_

In India, it's a physical library just like the ones in the US.

You sign up as a member and pay a deposit. You also pay a per-book reading
fee, as well as late fees if you don't bring the book back. If you fail to
return the book you lose your deposit.

~~~
itmag
That would be like Gmail requiring a $10 fee / year. Much less appealing than
free(mium).

Sure, public libraries are obviously not zero-cost, just as _someone_ (most
likely people who buy ads) pays for Gmail at some point, but they both _feel_
that way.

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Derbasti
What a sad, sad statement of a government.

The most important resource any country has is intelligent people. Cutting
library funding is cutting general education for the masses. It is actively
dumbing down populous.

~~~
learc83
I think it's more a reflection of the decline in paper books as tool for
education.

I've always loved libraries, but our local branch functions more as an
internet cafe than a library.

>The most important resource any country has is intelligent people.

When I was younger my local library was a gathering place for students, and
scholars (the intelligent people you mentioned). However, the last time I
went, it was primarily full of people who couldn't afford internet access
surfing Facebook.

~~~
Mvandenbergh
That's true, but for 15%-20% of the population, libraries are more or less the
only place where they can access the internet. Considering how many
transactions are now carried out online, providing cheap/free internet access
is actually a pretty good idea (and saves money overall when the paperwork
savings from their interactions with government agencies are taken into
account).

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HaloZero
Doesn't this mean that all public libraries will just shut down or do public
libraries in california have other sources of revenue (federal money perhaps?)

~~~
bpodgursky
I don't know about libraries in California specifically, but traditionally
libraries get most of their funding at the municipal level (funded by the
cities).

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rsanchez1
Today's reading of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat is brought to you by the
letters M&M.

It's the new reality facing California libraries. Either that, or just close
down. Seeing how county and city governments in California are more concerned
with telling porn studios how to conduct their business, the libraries are
gonna run out of money very quickly.

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rorrr
As much as I love libraries, they are extremely inefficient considering their
purpose.

~~~
bpodgursky
It depends on whether you consider the purpose as technically enabling the
spreading of information/books, or actually encouraging people to go and read
and study. Sure people are able to go and buy or download each of the books in
there, but IMO kids still gain a ton from wandering around the stacks until
they find something interesting. It's also a good way to impress upon kids the
huge amount of gathered knowledge out there, and how important it is to make
use of it...

~~~
rorrr
I think modern kids are online already, and are exposed to all kinds of
information. No library in the world can even come close to Wikipedia + Google
image search.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
In theory you are right, in reality most kids probably don't move off Facebook
other than to cheat on their homework.

~~~
learc83
Just like in reality most kids didn't go to the library unless forced, and
spent half their time looking for dirty books.

~~~
Cadsby
I strongly disagree. In New York you can walk into almost any library in the
city in the middle of the afternoon, head to the children's/young adult
section, and find a ton of kids/teens reading, browsing, engaging in local
events, etc. I've found this to be especially true in poorer neighborhoods in
the Bronx and Brooklyn, the kind of places where some people assume no one
would interested in partaking of these resources. (I have family in these
areas so I visit these neighborhoods a lot) Remember also, libraries are much
more than storage buildings for lots of dead tree books. They provide
important services to their communities - e.g. adult literacy assistance,
job/resume services, basic internet access and a whole lot more.

A lot of kids (and adults) get a great deal out of their local library. I
still vividly remember the very first book that I picked up by chance while
browsing the Sci-Fi section and couldn't put down until I fell asleep with it
in my hands at 5am.

~~~
learc83
>a ton of kids/teens

>A lot of kids

Yes, I was one of those kids, but _most_ of the kids I went to school with
weren't readers and never went to the library for fun.

In a densely populated area if 1% of kids regularly vist the library, it will
be packed. Still-- _most_ kids don't.

I also wasn't implying that libraries are without merit. The OP implied that
the internet wasn't beneficial as an educational tool because most kids don't
take advantage of it's potential. I merely pointed out that the same was true
for libraries.

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ncavig
Seriously?

