Bobbi Newman is the author of the blog “Librarian By Day”, and in her article “You Can Not Do More With Less – Less for Libraries Means Less For Our
Communities and They Deserve More”, she argues the need for her
compatriots, her fellow librarians, to stop claiming that “we can do more with
less”. Newman passionately contends that libraries can only do less with less,
crying that “communities are continually demanding more” as time goes by, but
that libraries are also getting less support – both financially and in public
opinion – as well as less consideration and partnerships.
And she’s right. Libraries are factoring less and less in
people’s minds. Fewer people care about books and libraries because as far as
they’re concerned, it’s all online. I have heard, too many times, people ask
what the fascination with books is, why read the book when the movie will
eventually be released? In high school, the first question that people ask in English
class is “Is there a film version of the novel, and when are we watching it?”. It’s no longer considered a way to
enhance the novel, but for the people that were too lazy to read it to know
what the hell is going on. So many things wrong with that, I don’t even know
where the hell to start! And so long as people ignore the value of books, and
think that books are all that libraries are good for, fewer people will support
libraries, leading to fewer resources and potentially the eventual closure of
many libraries around the world. Newman is right in her claim that libraries
can only do less with less, and librarians need to stop taking it and fight for
the resources that they desperately need to ensure the continued survival of
libraries the world over.
