Tiny Cost, Enormous Gain

Editorial reprinted with permission from the Press Republican.

We knew we were in for it after Sept. 11, 2001. New Yorkers knew that the double dose of bad news - the stalled economy in conjunction with the need to spend a lot of money rebounding from the attack - was going to inflict plenty of harm before the inevitable return of optimism.

And the solemn developments ensued, as expected. We have a national financial crisis, exacerbated by preparations for war, and, proportionately, a worse situation in Albany.

Most of the angst over the proposed state budget seems to focus on cuts in education aid. That’s understandable. Any hope for future prosperity is directly proportional to the investment we consistently make in the next generation of leaders.

Still, the cuts we’re trying hard to swallow will not be as deep as we’ve been told. The governor has proposed them knowing full well that the legislature will mitigate them, at least to some extent.

One item in the budget that got grim news that stands little chance of getting better is library aid. In effect, libraries in New York state will be asked to perform the many essential services they always do but with about the same funding they received from the state in 1993.

Those services are vastly expanded from 1993 and vastly more expensive. It used to be that about all anyone expected out of a library was a research room and book stacks. That was pre-Internet and before computers contributed so extravagantly to our daily lives.

Libraries are centers for the exchange of information, especially for people who don’t have the resources to pursue the information on their own. They are much more than refuges of literacy, although that, by itself, would be ample reason to advocate for their adequate funding. As it is, they command only one-tenth of a percent of the state budget - a minuscule amount.

Every year, it seems, the state finds a reason not to fully fund libraries. Not since 1998 has the state’s library system been given significant increases.

No one will want to see education cut, and the outcry when it is will be deafening. Only slightly less of a priority is the state’s libraries, but you won’t hear nearly the uproar when they are told to do more with less, as usual. Don’t be surprised if, this year, you see a difference in service. Even a library can’t do the impossible.