ALL 15 Jackson County Library branches WILL BE CLOSED…
“The Jackson County Library Information blog is a place to share information regarding the funding and closures of our 15 branch libraries. All fifteen branches of the Jackson County [OR] Library System will close beginning April 7, 2007 for an indefinite period of time due to lack of funding.” This is a sad sad blog, including posts like “Why Jackson County Must Close Libraries” “How you can help” and a Library Stories page. [thanks rick]
January 21st, 2007 at 12:22
I read about this yesterday (someone from the libraries posted pictures of the closing libraries on Flickr) and it broke my heart (and made me really angry).
January 21st, 2007 at 12:44
*jaw drops*
How hadn’t I heard about this? Reading the county administrator’s post, it does sound like the county’s pretty much broke, but…you’d think the people would step up and help. I’m also shocked I haven’t heard ALA raising cain over this or offering some funds to help out. Please keep us updated on this…
January 21st, 2007 at 1:04
I just del.icio.us’ed this article, which may be of interest. Very sad.
January 21st, 2007 at 1:25
“[...]but…you’d think the people would step up and help. ”
There is a very strong anti-tax movement in Oregon, specially in the more rural (and often poorer) counties. For whatever reason, people are not willing to “pay more” for libraries and with Jackson County’s previous federal funds cut, it makes for a very sad reality.
Jackson County, btw, wasn’t the only county in Oregon to suffer from the results of our recent elections. Check out: http://oregon.gov/OSL/LD/docs/ElectionSummary1997to2006.pdf (PDF)
January 21st, 2007 at 5:38
awww…thats so sad. i suppose libraries close all the time and few people hear about it, but this is like….huge. thats such a sad thing. maybe people will wake up when they no longer can get free information that really matters. the internet can only compensate so much.
February 1st, 2007 at 4:09
This is terrible, most of us love to read and this takes away our ability to read books…… At least for most people who don’t have enough money to buy them. Hopefully the government changes their minds about this!
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:42
[...] Jessamyn reports on the Jackson County Library Information blog, where you can read about the indefinite closing of all fifteen branches of this Oregon county’s library system. The reasons are complex, but it comes down to the need to cut lots of services as the county reduces its budget by $23 milllion. Libraries are apparently a “nice to have,” not a “must have,” in Jackson County. (It doesn’t help that a previous ballot measure removed the special levy for libraries.) [Tags: libraries everything_is_miscellaneous ] [...]