News Report 11/12

"Library Levy Landslides Make History in Ohio"
—Beverly Goldberg, American Libraries;
Posted on November 4, 2009.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/november2009/ohiolevies.cfm
Recent elections in the state of Ohio have shown an unheard of support for Libraries in an era where we’re seeing Libraries budgets being cut repeatedly. 29 of 37 levies were passed by Ohio voters; these levies have been placed on the ballots by Libraries who have been struggling monetarily and are being faced with having to cut staff and budgets. The public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has seen some of the most drastic support; they received a 72% vote to create the first ever millage they’ve seen. These votes have helped prevent the closing of up to 20 branches of libraries and the laying off of up to 250 Library employees. The Save our Library campaign has been attributed to much of the success in these votes and has seen immense support from the community.

I think that this is quite an inspiring story for Libraries and educated people throughout the states. As of late, it seems as though the only stories that I’ve been hearing are those that consist of Libraries having to cut their budgets, lay off many workers, or at worst shut down completely. I believe that it’s important that we as Americans make a stand and support our Libraries. They’re the one prolific and standing place in our communities that offer consistent information and allow us as citizens to retrieve information that we wish to find. I hope to hear more successful stories such as this one in the near future.