Restore the irresponsible fiscal cuts to the Erie County Library system

[speakup]

We respectfully request that you do all in your power to restore the irresponsible fiscal cuts to the Erie County Library system . We will not belabor the point of the importance of our library system to the taxpayers of Erie County especially at these trying times in our economy.

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[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

We respectfully request that you do all in your power to restore the irresponsible fiscal cuts to the Erie County Library system . We will not belabor the point of the importance of our library system to the taxpayers of Erie County especially at these trying times in our economy.

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What a joke!

Can Frank Sikorski provide any data to support the following claim?

Perhaps County Executive Collins is wealthy enough to afford his own private library and computer system and therefore has no need for his family or himself to access the public library . We can assure you that is not the case for the vast majority of residents and taxpayers of this county.

[WNYresident]

I think libraries are important. BUT..... I think it's BS when the line goes out "Perhaps County Executive Collins is wealthy enough to afford his own private library and computer system and therefore has no need for his family or himself to access the public library . We can assure you that is not the case for the vast majority of residents and taxpayers of this county."

Why? It's bull****.

I have clients who are poor and ask for help with computers... They can't scrap up 30 bucks to get their computer reloaded for their kids yet they got cigarettes or beer or painted nails or makeup/hair done etc etc etc...

It's all about priorities and being a responsible parent.

Anyone can have a computer now a days. There are so many win XP machines out there you can find them for 100 bucks. how many packs of cigarettes is that?

I still agree with Ben Franklin though. We should have libraries..Or maybe a hybrid library/community center for kids who have useless/bad parents. We don't need state of the art libraries or over built libraries just because some developer wants to build it.

[Dougles]

Can't people use their school libraries?

[Scottish23]

School libraries, if one attends a school, have faced serious budget cuts in recent years as well.

The premise of this conversation is going off-track. The ability to afford a computer or a pack of cigarettes has nothing to do with the need for public libraries in this community. Libraries provide a slew of services, not just computers and dvd rentals -- there's reference assistance, meeting room space, early childhood programs and story hours, just to name a few. Oh, and the books, remember?

Library usage has gone *up* in the past few years, as the recession has taken a bite out of everyone's pocket. More and more people need to and want to use the public library -- and that's why the original poster has a point. Clearly this recession has increased the need for library services.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Can't people use their school libraries?

No, most people can't use school libraries. I think they can do in some rural areas, but that is rare.

I've always thought of libraries as a mark of civilization. That people are so willing to cast them off breaks my heart. Are they really the problem? Are they why we pay such high taxes?

I'm more than willing to pay taxes for the things we need, and I put libraries in that category.

[cookie]

Lots of community, youth and senior centers in WNY. Many have computers, internet, help with job searches, after school homework programs, etc.

What's the status of the mobile library(ies)? I haven't seen anything about that being cut. Many of the community centers have scheduled mobile library days.


As to where does the money go, try taking a look at the budget. It tells where it comes from and where it goes to. The cuts being made now are the culmination of years and years, decades even, of living beyond our means and mismanagement. At some point, we have to stop and pay the piper. We can't continue to hope someone will come along and bail us out (ie., state/federal stimulus, tobacco settlements, etc.) We are paying for services for a level of population this area hasn't seen in 20-30 years.

[Dougles]

School libraries, if one attends a school, have faced serious budget cuts in recent years as well.

The premise of this conversation is going off-track. The ability to afford a computer or a pack of cigarettes has nothing to do with the need for public libraries in this community. Libraries provide a slew of services, not just computers and dvd rentals -- there's reference assistance, meeting room space, early childhood programs and story hours, just to name a few. Oh, and the books, remember?

Library usage has gone *up* in the past few years, as the recession has taken a bite out of everyone's pocket. More and more people need to and want to use the public library -- and that's why the original poster has a point. Clearly this recession has increased the need for library services.

Then have those people using them pay $.50 every time they go to one...

Nothing in life is free!

[Genoobie]

Right gosh darn it. I'm sick and tired of paying for things I don't use. Why heck, I get suspicious of Canadians all the time. Why haven't we invaded them yet. Don't care much for Indonesians either, we should occupy them too. We should build ten more aircraft carriers and launch a global assault. Now *that* I could see paying for. But libraries, what a waste. I mean who needs to read? Who needs access to computers? Who needs the services a library provides? Do we really need a citizenry that has access to things like books or journals? I say the pork has to stop somewhere! We do not need an educated public or even access to the tools to become educated.

Sheesh!

[speaker]

And bear in mind, people, that the libraries that're closed or nearly closed---NEVER come back.
This was our experience 5 years ago. The buildings were sold for other purposes.
My branch library is about 100 feet from an elementary school. What a great thing for the students to be able to stop there on their way home. But mine is now cut down to 16 hours a week. And I'm guessing the librarians can't live on that pay or were let go.

[Dougles]

Right gosh darn it. I'm sick and tired of paying for things I don't use. Why heck, I get suspicious of Canadians all the time. Why haven't we invaded them yet. Don't care much for Indonesians either, we should occupy them too. We should build ten more aircraft carriers and launch a global assault. Now *that* I could see paying for. But libraries, what a waste. I mean who needs to read? Who needs access to computers? Who needs the services a library provides? Do we really need a citizenry that has access to things like books or journals? I say the pork has to stop somewhere! We do not need an educated public or even access to the tools to become educated.

Sheesh!

How do you get from Libraries to invading Canada??

Why don't you try thinking before typing next time.

[Dougles]

And bear in mind, people, that the libraries that're closed or nearly closed---NEVER come back.
This was our experience 5 years ago. The buildings were sold for other purposes.
My branch library is about 100 feet from an elementary school. What a great thing for the students to be able to stop there on their way home. But mine is now cut down to 16 hours a week. And I'm guessing the librarians can't live on that pay or were let go.

Why aren't they stopping at the schools library?

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

School libraries, if one attends a school, have faced serious budget cuts in recent years as well.

The premise of this conversation is going off-track. The ability to afford a computer or a pack of cigarettes has nothing to do with the need for public libraries in this community. Libraries provide a slew of services, not just computers and dvd rentals -- there's reference assistance, meeting room space, early childhood programs and story hours, just to name a few. Oh, and the books, remember?

Library usage has gone *up* in the past few years, as the recession has taken a bite out of everyone's pocket. More and more people need to and want to use the public library -- and that's why the original poster has a point. Clearly this recession has increased the need for library services.

Library usage has gone up because they have expanded the services outside of books.

As you mentioned, they are essentially evolved to cybercafés, after school day care for teens and senior centers. The challenge with this is they are libraries.

If providing internet access to a few, which is the reality of it, the various towns should open cybercafés instead. The overhead would be much less and also open up some ability to monetize the program. For example, you could have a Spot Coffee manage the cafe and staff it with someone who makes a great cup of joe along with the ability to deal with the basic issues a computer room faces. Essentially you average 18 year old could do this.

Also...we are talking about limiting hours for the most part. If people want to have these things open 60 hours a week, find a way to make them profit producers.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Right gosh darn it. I'm sick and tired of paying for things I don't use. Why heck, I get suspicious of Canadians all the time. Why haven't we invaded them yet. Don't care much for Indonesians either, we should occupy them too. We should build ten more aircraft carriers and launch a global assault. Now *that* I could see paying for. But libraries, what a waste. I mean who needs to read? Who needs access to computers? Who needs the services a library provides? Do we really need a citizenry that has access to things like books or journals? I say the pork has to stop somewhere! We do not need an educated public or even access to the tools to become educated.

Sheesh!

Typical...

If you do not think people should pay, what about sponsorship of the internet access? Similar to Hulu, you could force the user to sit through a commercial every 10 minutes of use.

Or how about leasing the community rooms to day care providers? They could pay rent and use the community room for an after school program. The rent could help cover the costs of keeping the place open and for the business owner they could see a lower rent.

[Genoobie]

How do you get from Libraries to invading Canada??

Why don't you try thinking before typing next time.

Uhh, Dougles, you really don't get it do you. The allusion was to defense spending and that there are probably dozens of places where cuts could be applied with affecting national security. I certainly don't feel any safer but there are billions upon billions of dollars being dumped into the NSA. If I wanted to infiltrate something I'm sure it wouldn't be the NSA that came to investigate.

But Lefty, I'm not totally against user fees. Reasonable charges. I use the library all the time and I could see paying say, $1 for every ten books charged out, or $1 per hour of computer time (although I don't need this service). $1 for every 5 movies / etc. Does the library really need to carry episodes of "The Office" or other TV shows, not really. A library should devote resources to procuring items that are unique / not widely available. Never said I was against it. However, with all the outrageous spending going on, and the tons of make-work projects (education included) this is where we are going to cut?? Penny-wise, pound-foolish if you ask me.