Oddly enough, I’m both a local library board member, and a gun owner who enjoys shooting occasionally. I’d trade my guns in tomorrow if it meant more books available to the public. Southern Oregon actually needs libraries more than most places, which is ultimately the tragedy of this story.
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The downside of a division of politics where one side favors reality and the other, well, not so much, is that facts have a strangely partisan way of supporting the side of reality. Information-only campaigns are the bread and butter of a lot of public library systems. This is especially important in areas where there isn’t an opportunity to mobilize a concerted “Vote Yes” campaign from the public.
I saw this and was reminded of SB 571 in Michigan almost a year ago, when the state legislature tried to put limits on libraries providing the same kind of objective information. EveryLibrary helped coordinate a social media campaign trying to deal with that nonsense as well. I had the pleasure of meeting their director when they helped with a ballot initiative in my neck of the woods. They’re good folks doing good work. If you haven’t clicked through to the site yet, I’d urge you to give it a look, and if interested, a contribution. A little bit goes a long way.
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In my county we once had a commissioner who was entirely against letting the library even go on the ballot. Said commissioner actually left the room in a huff when it was explained that they weren’t allowed to block it.
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Cut off your head to spite your face.
That’s cause stuff like that is Mooslim socialism that will corrupt our precious bodily fluids!!
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It’s probably not a fair way to judge a town but the quality of their public library carries a lot of weight for me. And I don’t just mean the quality of their book selection. I’m talking about the character of the space. Polished marble floors, cavernous halls, all sorts of alcoves and balconies. Yeah.
I realize budgets can be tight but surely they can find mixed uses for the buildings and still justify dedicating part of them for book lending.
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