After finally getting rid of our uninvited house guests (at least they only spent 1 night, thank goodness), I was on to more important items for my Saturday afternoon, like visiting the library.
Public librarians take note: if you think YOUR library is underfunded and understaffed--visit a military library for a truly pathetic experience. The Old Mother Hubbard situation of libraries.
There are only a few new books that come in every week, and it takes FOREVER for them to get cataloged. The "children's room" is tiny, dark (no windows, of course), and never has many new books. Most of the shelves have those ancient library-bindings on them, remember the ones from the 70's with the dark blue, dark green, or black? No pictures on the cover, just white typeface on the spine? Not very inviting. Doesn't scream, "PICK ME UP AND READ ME!" more like a wimper, "Kill me, now..."
It pisses me off that Congress will happily budget billions upon billions of dollars for bridges in the Antarctic, subsidies for white asparagus growers, and pay trillions for a single missile, but they underfund their base libraries.
How bad is it? EXAMPLE OF THE DAY:
There is a sign posted at the front desk that reads:
"Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince, coming soon!"When? By the time book 7 is out? Sheesh.
3 comments:
Yes! God forbid the Military would build one less fighter jet and use that cash on base libraries.
But wait...that would make sense and be a smart use of funds....silly me.
HOLY DE JA VU, BATMAN!!! We use almost the exact same words in TIL's last sentence on a daily basis. "Wait a minute, that makes sense, we can't do that." It is a constant thorn in my side the way the military is run. It would be so much more efficient if it were run like a corporation with a board of directors instead of like a dictatorship. Too many important decisions simply rest in the hands of too few people. As for base libraries, they are worse than pathetic. It is almost as though the military is trying to keep soldiers from reading by making base libraries uninviting.
Be careful what you wish for...my library is run by a board of directors, but still functions like a dictatorship!
Post a Comment