LSTA Budget Shot in the Arm
For the third straight year, President George W. Bush has proposed that the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) include $171.5 million for state grants, which would be sufficient to implement a 2003 law aimed at more equitably distributing the grants. For FY07, Congress appropriated $163.7 million for the states and, for FY08, it appropriated $160.9 million.The American Library Association (ALA) applauded Bush’s funding request, which for LSTA grant components replicated his funding proposals for FY08, all of which were reduced by Congress. He proposed $12.7 million for the National Leadership Grants for Libraries, an increase of $556,000 over FY08.He proposed $26.5 million for the Recruitment of Librarians for the 21st Century, an increase of $3.2 million over FY08. He proposed $3.7 million for Native Americans Library Services, an increase of $143,000 over FY08. He also proposed $3.5 million for library policy, research, and statistics (included in the administration total), an increase of $1.54 million over FY 2008.
I am happy to see any increase on the state level to funding. I find it suspicious, however. The cynic in me raises an eyebrow in scrutiny. The Bush family has made as many cuts as it has contributions. Consider the EPA funding cut (2.0 million from the library system's $2.5 million budget for Fiscal 2007), and Jeb Bush's attacks on the Florida State Library come to mind (Florida Gov. Jeb Bush slashed a total of $5.8 million in grants to public libraries). Bush may wish to leave behind a legacy of endowing future libraries, but unlike the Orwellian nightmare that I remember the first 8 years of this millennium, he will be hard press to cover the horrible facts of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina (remember he cut funding on that score-In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding) and his human rights violations such as phone tapping and torturing prisoners of war. To me this seems like a bone tossed in the name of public approval ratings which have been low for a long time now.
The picture of the ALA clapping their hands in gratitude to this hand out makes me laugh. It does little to leave a warm squishy feeling in me concerning anyone with the last name of Bush. In fact from now on any object, person, or otherwise that uses the title "bush" shall not be mentioned by polite and conscious tempered individuals. From now on (for example) Moses in the Bible didn't consult a burning bush, but a burning green leafy thing. The eyebrows on Moses are not bushy, they are eye-staches. After wandering the desert old Moses was heard to say he was very tired, in other words, NOT bushed, but damn tired. So let us review. Not Bush, but something (anything but "---") anything else, just not the "---". Perhaps we can learn from J.K. Rowling who created a character who was so wicked and bad that no one dared say its name, except for one, the boy who lived. However, I am not that boy.
The reason for my post is to remind everyone to remember every time a library is closed, or a professional librarian loses their job to a part time employee. Remember when as a librarian you must make cuts in staffing or services. Never forget the past. By forgetting the past we are doomed to be entombed in it.
Any thoughts?
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6529533.html
For the third straight year, President George W. Bush has proposed that the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) include $171.5 million for state grants, which would be sufficient to implement a 2003 law aimed at more equitably distributing the grants. For FY07, Congress appropriated $163.7 million for the states and, for FY08, it appropriated $160.9 million.The American Library Association (ALA) applauded Bush’s funding request, which for LSTA grant components replicated his funding proposals for FY08, all of which were reduced by Congress. He proposed $12.7 million for the National Leadership Grants for Libraries, an increase of $556,000 over FY08.He proposed $26.5 million for the Recruitment of Librarians for the 21st Century, an increase of $3.2 million over FY08. He proposed $3.7 million for Native Americans Library Services, an increase of $143,000 over FY08. He also proposed $3.5 million for library policy, research, and statistics (included in the administration total), an increase of $1.54 million over FY 2008.
I am happy to see any increase on the state level to funding. I find it suspicious, however. The cynic in me raises an eyebrow in scrutiny. The Bush family has made as many cuts as it has contributions. Consider the EPA funding cut (2.0 million from the library system's $2.5 million budget for Fiscal 2007), and Jeb Bush's attacks on the Florida State Library come to mind (Florida Gov. Jeb Bush slashed a total of $5.8 million in grants to public libraries). Bush may wish to leave behind a legacy of endowing future libraries, but unlike the Orwellian nightmare that I remember the first 8 years of this millennium, he will be hard press to cover the horrible facts of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina (remember he cut funding on that score-In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding) and his human rights violations such as phone tapping and torturing prisoners of war. To me this seems like a bone tossed in the name of public approval ratings which have been low for a long time now.
The picture of the ALA clapping their hands in gratitude to this hand out makes me laugh. It does little to leave a warm squishy feeling in me concerning anyone with the last name of Bush. In fact from now on any object, person, or otherwise that uses the title "bush" shall not be mentioned by polite and conscious tempered individuals. From now on (for example) Moses in the Bible didn't consult a burning bush, but a burning green leafy thing. The eyebrows on Moses are not bushy, they are eye-staches. After wandering the desert old Moses was heard to say he was very tired, in other words, NOT bushed, but damn tired. So let us review. Not Bush, but something (anything but "---") anything else, just not the "---". Perhaps we can learn from J.K. Rowling who created a character who was so wicked and bad that no one dared say its name, except for one, the boy who lived. However, I am not that boy.
The reason for my post is to remind everyone to remember every time a library is closed, or a professional librarian loses their job to a part time employee. Remember when as a librarian you must make cuts in staffing or services. Never forget the past. By forgetting the past we are doomed to be entombed in it.
Any thoughts?
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6529533.html
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