— Hundreds of librarians protested a $10.4 million proposed budget cut at the Statehouse Annex today, being far from quiet as they told story after story about the value of book sharing.
"There’s no shushing," said Pat Massey of Edison, president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians and a South Plainfield school librarian who took a personal day to attend the rally.
Under Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $29.3 billion budget for fiscal 2011, the state’s libraries would lose 74 percent of their funding with a cut from $14 million to $3.6 million. The loss of state funds also would cost at least $4.5 million in federal matching funds.
Previous coverage:
• U.S. Department of Agriculture offers grants, loans to N.J. libraries facing budget difficulties
• N.J. libraries face Gov. Chris Christie's 74 percent budget cut
• Complete coverage of the 2010 New Jersey State Budget
Gone with the money would be internet services used by a range of people from job seekers at public libraries to children in their schools, as well as inter-library loans that moved 3.7 million items in New Jersey last year.
"It’s precious, irreplaceable resources," said Connie Paul of Freehold, who is the Director of the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. If libraries had to buy that many books, paying $25 apiece — which Paul said would be cheap — the cost would be $92.5 million.
In addition, a bill in the state Assembly (A2555) would eliminate minimum funding requirements for local libraries and instead allow towns to decide how much money to give.
"And now for my ‘Norma Rae’ moment," one speaker at the microphone said, referring to a scene in the Sally Field movie in which the actress rallies her co-workers to form a union. To cheers and applause from the crowd of about 400, the librarian held up a sign reading "We’re going to fight A2555."
Mary Lewis of Metuchen, a past president of the New Jersey Association of School Libraries and current middle school librarian in Union County, said there’s a fallacy in the argument some make that public libraries can stand in for the loss of school libraries.
"What school libraries do that is different is they teach the children how to take the information and turn it into knowledge," Lewis said. "I can teach 150 kids in a day, and I usually will."
Massey added: "It’s our role to guide them into how to be critical thinkers."
Nina Kemps of Cherry Hill, a retired head librarian of the Rosa International Middle School in the Camden County township, said many people just don’t understand what’s at stake.
"They think that someone else can just check out books," Kemps said. "We do a lot more than check out books."
She said librarians teach students "information literacy" — how to apply knowledge, sift data and look at facts critically. They also work with teachers to design lessons, and they coordinate multidisciplinary projects.
"We support the whole curriculum," said Shayne Russell, a Medford resident and librarian at the Olson Middle School Tabernacle. "We have the big picture because we work with every teacher in the school."
For more information, visit savemynjlibrary.org.
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