I came across an editorial today titled "Rethinking Government: Why We Need Library Rental Fees." The article discusses how incorporating operational fees into more public library services could help to bridge the budget gap that threatens so many public libraries. My first reaction was a gut-wrenching "NO WAY!" followed swiftly by a mental call-to-arms to denounce and take down this town selectman who thinks he knows everything. But then I took a step back and tried to see his points in a more objective way.
When the modern library was still in the process of evolution, there were several "types" that emerged before the public library as we know it dominated the industry (if such a thing can be called that). One of these, as the writer of the article points out, was the subscription library that required a membership fee to be able to utilize its resources. It seems that Mr. Greenfield wants to reinstate this idea to a certain degree and charge patrons $.50 per book they wish to borrow. He notes that the cost of a new book has greatly increased since the beginnings of the free public library, which of course means that the cost for the library to acquire said books has also greatly increased--a valid point. A vast majority of the money to pay for these and other costs comes from local taxes, and most if not all of us are aware how much local governments across the nation are struggling to afford many necessary services that include not only libraries but fire and police forces, social services, and educational programs. Knowing all this, I can understand Mr. Greenfield's suggestion that the community pitches in a little more to boost the library's available monies and provide some relief to the local budget.
Yet I still feel that his solution would not really solve the problem. A $.50 fee per book would be prohibitive. Statistics produced by many sources (including the ALA's 2011 State of America's Libraries Report) show library use increasing, a fact Mr. Greenfield mentions in his article. What he doesn't note is that a large percentage of those who do visit and use the library are those with little money, the unemployed, and the undereducated--all evidenced by the trends that libraries continue to see increase: more demand for job-seeking and job preparation resources, patrons placing higher value in programs promoting education and life-long learning, and increased circulation as patrons try to cut back their own personal costs by utilizing the free services and resources offered by public libraries. How would these patrons be able to afford more charges and more fees for things they rely on being able to use or borrow for free? Realistically, there will be patrons who can afford the additional costs, but there will always be a number of patrons who will not. This distinctly conflicts with the mission of the library to provide equal (and free) access to materials to all patrons. Tagging on borrowing fees will not provide equal access to patrons--the additional costs will prohibit some patrons from utilizing those resources.
I wonder if Mr. Greenfield also thought about the many families that use the library. A poorer family would be able to afford borrowing items even less than poorer individuals. Children often rely on library materials for school projects and to supplement their own education. Many schools have had to close or severely restrict their own library operations, meaning that children in those schools would be relying on their local public library even more. Children of the poorer families who need information for projects would not be able to borrow the resources they require--thereby diminishing their educational success. Every child in this country has the right to a public education. One could argue that this would include access to the public library.
Just to put a more practical face on this, let's assume there is a public library that decided to take Mr. Greenfield's advice and each item is $.50 to borrow. A mother takes her three children there after school one afternoon to get some books the school recommended for her sixth grader's India project and her first grader's bean seed project, and a couple of picture books for her toddler. She also wants to get a book for herself to read in the evening after her children have gone to bed. After her children have made their selections, they check out all the items and the mother has to pay $4.00 for the eight items they have borrowed. This is a weekly visit, so the mother will end up spending $16.00 a month (perhaps more) for their library privaledges. This may not seem like a lot, but to someone who is trying to make ends meet, every dollar is precious.
As a side note, my local public library system allows patrons to take out 65 books at a time--a limit that would cost a patron $32.50 who was being charged per item. That doesn't take into account the CD or DVD limit, which combined would add on another $15.00. Granted very few people actually do reach that limit, but it shows potentially how expensive using the library could be.
My point is that $.50 an item can easily add up and become cost-prohibitive to many patrons, discouraging continued visits and usage of library items. Circulation is one of the quantitative measurements that can be taken of library patronage (qualitative measurements are much harder to acquire). Libraries often rely on their circulation to help support their efforts to have their budgets approved: "See how many items have been borrowed over the last three months compared to the same time last year? Patrons are increasing their use of our resources, so we need the funding to continue to provide them." (Yes I know this is a rather simplified version of any library's budget discussion and the actual debate would include a lot more talking points.) If additional fees cause circulation to decrease, that could have lasting ramifications affecting many aspects of a library's operation since such a trend could directly affect future budget proposals.
And here's another thought: who would want to spend money for a service their taxes already pay for?
I would highly recommend reading through the comments of Mr. Greenfield's article. There were a lot of interesting points made on both sides of the table. Which side do you agree with?
A response to Mr. Greenfield's editorial written by ALA's executive director can be found here. He discusses a few of the points I made above, as well as a number of other points.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Two New Recipes FYE (for your enjoyment)
I know that I have been a bit behind with recipes, so I'm posting two today. The first is one from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook: zucchini bread. My garden is doing very well and I'm picking zucchini and squash faster than I can eat it. To help use up all the zucchini, I tried this recipe--which ended up being a big hit!
What you'll need:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 c. sugar
1 c. finely shredded zucchini (unpeeled)
1/4 c. cooking oil
1/2 c. pecans
What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x4x2-in loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, add the egg and gently beat it. Add the sugar, oil, and shredded zucchini. Mix until completely combined.
4. Add the zucchini mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy, so an electric mixer is not necessary. Add the pecans and mix until well-combined.
5. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Remove from pan and store.
A couple of tips about this recipe:
1) It is really easy to make 2-3 batches of this at once to give away. If you do this, use disposable loaf pans--you will not need to remove the loaves from them before gifting and the loaf pans will make transportation easy.
2) If you have a small oven, do not cook more than two loaves at a time. Otherwise, you may need to increase your cooking time as much as 15-20 minutes.
3) This is great when eaten warm, and it's a perfect compliment to coffee or tea (according to my mother).
OK, now to the next recipe. This was something Scooter and I managed to pull together with no prep time using only what we had on hand. It was inspired in part by a recipe that we made one night awhile ago when cooking for my parents. This is our "Beat that Hamburger Helper!" recipe--named such because I had suggested getting Hamburger Helper from the store for an easy dinner and Scooter replying that we could do better--and he was right!
What you'll need:
1 lb. hamburger meat
1/4 purple onion, chopped into large chunks
1 1/2 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. cinnamon
2 tsp. dried sage
1 c. beer
3 heaping Tbs. tomato paste
1/2 to 2/3 c. tomato sauce
1 Tbs. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
What you'll need to do:
1. In a large frying pan, brown the hamburger meat until almost all the pink is gone. Drain the excess fat.
2. Add the onions and saute over med-high heat until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic powder, cinnamon, and sage, mixing well. Add the beer and simmer until nearly all the liquid has cooked off, about 3-5 minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and stir until mixture is well-combined. Sauce will be thick.
5. Add the tomato sauce a little at a time and mix well until sauce has thinned to desired consistency (about as thick as chunky pasta sauce).
6. Add the brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Mix well and simmer for 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve over rice.
The flavor of the beef in this recipe ends up being similar to a Greek dish I posted about before. Of course this improv recipe uses beef instead of lamb, and we used sage in place of the more traditional Greek flavor of oregano. We did keep the cinnamon, which provides a very complex and wonderful flavor to the dish, in conjunction with the beer (I would recommend a dark or stout beer) and the brown sugar. I was quite pleased with the result, and I think Scooter was too, judging by how fast he was trying to eat his dinner that night.
Enjoy!
What you'll need:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 c. sugar
1 c. finely shredded zucchini (unpeeled)
1/4 c. cooking oil
1/2 c. pecans
What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x4x2-in loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, add the egg and gently beat it. Add the sugar, oil, and shredded zucchini. Mix until completely combined.
4. Add the zucchini mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy, so an electric mixer is not necessary. Add the pecans and mix until well-combined.
5. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Remove from pan and store.
A couple of tips about this recipe:
1) It is really easy to make 2-3 batches of this at once to give away. If you do this, use disposable loaf pans--you will not need to remove the loaves from them before gifting and the loaf pans will make transportation easy.
2) If you have a small oven, do not cook more than two loaves at a time. Otherwise, you may need to increase your cooking time as much as 15-20 minutes.
3) This is great when eaten warm, and it's a perfect compliment to coffee or tea (according to my mother).
OK, now to the next recipe. This was something Scooter and I managed to pull together with no prep time using only what we had on hand. It was inspired in part by a recipe that we made one night awhile ago when cooking for my parents. This is our "Beat that Hamburger Helper!" recipe--named such because I had suggested getting Hamburger Helper from the store for an easy dinner and Scooter replying that we could do better--and he was right!
What you'll need:
1 lb. hamburger meat
1/4 purple onion, chopped into large chunks
1 1/2 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. cinnamon
2 tsp. dried sage
1 c. beer
3 heaping Tbs. tomato paste
1/2 to 2/3 c. tomato sauce
1 Tbs. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
What you'll need to do:
1. In a large frying pan, brown the hamburger meat until almost all the pink is gone. Drain the excess fat.
2. Add the onions and saute over med-high heat until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic powder, cinnamon, and sage, mixing well. Add the beer and simmer until nearly all the liquid has cooked off, about 3-5 minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and stir until mixture is well-combined. Sauce will be thick.
5. Add the tomato sauce a little at a time and mix well until sauce has thinned to desired consistency (about as thick as chunky pasta sauce).
6. Add the brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Mix well and simmer for 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve over rice.
The flavor of the beef in this recipe ends up being similar to a Greek dish I posted about before. Of course this improv recipe uses beef instead of lamb, and we used sage in place of the more traditional Greek flavor of oregano. We did keep the cinnamon, which provides a very complex and wonderful flavor to the dish, in conjunction with the beer (I would recommend a dark or stout beer) and the brown sugar. I was quite pleased with the result, and I think Scooter was too, judging by how fast he was trying to eat his dinner that night.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Late Night Musings
I know that other women will understand what I mean when I mention how the mind can wander and roam with no end in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, this seems to be a more common occurrence as of late, but on the up-side I've had a chance to mull over where I am in my program and where I really want to go.
No longer a "noob" in my program, I have gained some knowledge and exposure to the profession to help me become a little more focused in how I want to shape my future. I still have a lot to learn, and after this upcoming semester, all the other classes I choose to take will shape my focus. After becoming more involved with various groups within the profession and reading more comments/blogs/etc from individuals in the profession, I've learned that there is a much broader field of positions available to someone who holds an MLIS than I originally thought. I'm connecting with and reading about "librarians" or "information specialists" in nearly every industry. My options for the future have really opened up.
And yet, even with knowing that I could conceivably end up almost anywhere doing almost anything, I see myself being pulling in two directions. As a children's and youth services librarian, I would be able to work with children (something I would love to do), create and manage programs for all ages and even families, and really promote learning for the youngest generations. As a librarian that specialize in community outreach and library social services, I would be able to help the less-fortunate members of our society and my community by providing services through the library that are specifically targeted for them--as well as building community ties between the library and its local area and helping to make the library a "community place" that its locals are proud of.
So which do I choose? It may come down to doing an unofficial internship at my local library through a children's librarian I connected with there (an official internship would be too demanding and require too many hours). Getting some practical experience in library services for children and youth would be, well, awesome (if I may use the slang term). From what I've gathered in some of my professional groups, internships are excellent gauging tools, can be a lot of fun, and are great for building experience. If I do end up pursuing a position as a children's/youth librarian, I will need the experience to get an edge when I apply for those positions.
This next year--Fall 2011 and Spring 2012--will hopefully bring clarity and better focus for my profession. I hope to have a better, more decisive idea of what kind of librarian I intend to be. In the meantime, I have a lot of academic and professional growth to undergo. I'm anticipating the upcoming semester with a lot of enthusiasm!
No longer a "noob" in my program, I have gained some knowledge and exposure to the profession to help me become a little more focused in how I want to shape my future. I still have a lot to learn, and after this upcoming semester, all the other classes I choose to take will shape my focus. After becoming more involved with various groups within the profession and reading more comments/blogs/etc from individuals in the profession, I've learned that there is a much broader field of positions available to someone who holds an MLIS than I originally thought. I'm connecting with and reading about "librarians" or "information specialists" in nearly every industry. My options for the future have really opened up.
And yet, even with knowing that I could conceivably end up almost anywhere doing almost anything, I see myself being pulling in two directions. As a children's and youth services librarian, I would be able to work with children (something I would love to do), create and manage programs for all ages and even families, and really promote learning for the youngest generations. As a librarian that specialize in community outreach and library social services, I would be able to help the less-fortunate members of our society and my community by providing services through the library that are specifically targeted for them--as well as building community ties between the library and its local area and helping to make the library a "community place" that its locals are proud of.
So which do I choose? It may come down to doing an unofficial internship at my local library through a children's librarian I connected with there (an official internship would be too demanding and require too many hours). Getting some practical experience in library services for children and youth would be, well, awesome (if I may use the slang term). From what I've gathered in some of my professional groups, internships are excellent gauging tools, can be a lot of fun, and are great for building experience. If I do end up pursuing a position as a children's/youth librarian, I will need the experience to get an edge when I apply for those positions.
This next year--Fall 2011 and Spring 2012--will hopefully bring clarity and better focus for my profession. I hope to have a better, more decisive idea of what kind of librarian I intend to be. In the meantime, I have a lot of academic and professional growth to undergo. I'm anticipating the upcoming semester with a lot of enthusiasm!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Catching Up Part 2
The holiday weekend at the beginning of the month gave Scooter and I the perfect opportunity to have another adventure on a day trip. We knew that we would be dealing with 1) the possibility of a lot of traffic because of like-minded people and 2) the definite reality of large crowds at our intended destination. We left extra early to avoid the traffic (and successfully did so, I might add), and debated the whole way to the coast about how many people would be there and how many rides we could expect to ride before 5:00pm.
The brief telling of the story: we got in a lot of rides and had an all-around good time. There were a lot of people where we were. The park we were at was right on the beach, giving us a good view of the crowds of people that had escaped to the coast for the holiday weekend. The vast number of not only people but tarps, umbrellas, and canopies made the beach look like a city of nomads had sprung out of the sand in a matter of hours (which I suppose it did). Scooter likened it to a huge flea market.
We left in the late afternoon to continue our way up the coast, and things made a turn for the worse once we left the park on the beach. I won't go into a lot of detail, just to say that we were tired, frustrated, and irrate by the time we were able to head home.
Independence Day itself was quiet. My parents had my sister and us over for barbecued hot dogs. My contribution to dinner was a homemade apple pie (recipe seen below). The evening was finished with several West Wing episodes--a Saturday night tradition we had to push back since my parents were out of town. We could hear some fireworks going off, which are not allowed in our area (you might call us a "dry" town). The only fireworks Scooter and I saw were some small ones a couple of people set off on the corner across the street.
Now for the recipe: all-American apple pie with crumb topping. The original recipe is from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I'll start with the pie crust first.
What you'll need:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 to 5 Tbs. ice-cold water
What you'll need to do:
1. In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour and salt.
2. Add in the shortening. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, blend it into the flour mixture until it looks like large crumbs.
3. Add in the ice water one tablespoon at a time. Stir each addition into the flour mixture. Stop adding water when all the flour is moistened and the dough holds together.
4. Roll dough into a ball. If you are making the dough ahead of time, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge up to 24 hours.
5. Lightly flour a flat surface and roll out the dough into a 12-in circle. Move to a 9-in pie pan and lightly press to mold it to all sides of the pie pan. Trim the edges of the dough to the edge of the pie pan.
Now you're ready for the filling and crumb topping.
What you'll need:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 Tbs. butter
2 Granny Smith apples
4 small Gala apples
3/4 c. sugar
2 Tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, add the 1/2 cup flour and the brown sugar. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, mix in the butter until the topping looks like large crumbs. Set aside.
3. Peel, core, and thinly slice the six apples. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, the remaining two tablespoons of flour, the cinnamon, and the nutmeg. Add in the apple slices and stir until the apples are all well-covered.
5. Add the apple mixture to the prepared pie crust. Carefully sprinkle on the crumb topping.
6. Cover the edges with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are tender.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Enjoy!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Catching Up Part 1
I know I have been neglecting my blog lately; and to those who read and enjoy it, I apologize. Time has been running away from me with all due haste, and it is with no little amazement that I find myself already well into July.
A lot has been happening since my last post--a few metaphorical fires at work that I've had to help solve, a Swedish holiday that resulted in much merriment and the usual traditional skoll, my bother visiting from the East Coast, and my adventures during this last weekend to celebrate Independence Day--not to mention any library-related events/topics/issues/etc. I'm going to try to post consistently over the next few days in an effort to catch up. I will also try and post a couple of recipes (including the apple pie I made Monday). Today will focus on Midsummer.
Midsummer is a Swedish holiday that celebrates the longest day of the year. Ironically, the official day for Midsummer is not on the Summer Solstice, but rather a few days after on June 25. Sil, or herring, is always part of the menu. This year, because my family was not celebrating alone, we added some other Swedish foods as well: hard-boiled eggs, Swedish cheese, Kalas caviar, homemade rye bread, smoked salmon to stand in for the gravlax, and four kinds of sil. For those who are not used to Swedish food or don't like it, the menu can understandably be a bit of a turn-off. For those in attendance, however, it was all very delicious. Dessert was coffee and fresh strawberries, another very traditional part of the holiday.
I had the pleasure to be in Sweden for Midsummer in 2000 and had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with the Swedish relatives. My cousin took me just outside of the town he lives in and had me pick a bouquet of seven wildflowers on Midsummer's Eve. Tradition says that any unwed girl who does this and places her bouquet under her pillow on Midsummer's Eve will dream of the man she will marry that night. My bouquet did indeed rest under my pillow that night, but I woke up the next morning sadly with no recollection of any dreams. To this day, I still don't know if I dreamed of my future husband that night.
Another Swedish tradition that I was able to enjoy was the dancing around the May pole (I have no idea why it's called a May pole when the holiday is in June). Where my cousins live, the celebration is held just outside of town in a big field with a small grassy mound that gives a perfect view of the dancing. The dancers wear a traditional costume; each Swedish province has its own traditional dress. Live music is played, and everyone watches and has a good time--sometimes even joining in with the dancing. Reminiscing now makes me want to go back and see it all again.
Below are a couple of pictures of our Midsummer dinner table. Tomorrow I'll post again about 4th of July weekend (and the apple pie recipe) before returning to the topic of libraries over the weekend.
A lot has been happening since my last post--a few metaphorical fires at work that I've had to help solve, a Swedish holiday that resulted in much merriment and the usual traditional skoll, my bother visiting from the East Coast, and my adventures during this last weekend to celebrate Independence Day--not to mention any library-related events/topics/issues/etc. I'm going to try to post consistently over the next few days in an effort to catch up. I will also try and post a couple of recipes (including the apple pie I made Monday). Today will focus on Midsummer.
Midsummer is a Swedish holiday that celebrates the longest day of the year. Ironically, the official day for Midsummer is not on the Summer Solstice, but rather a few days after on June 25. Sil, or herring, is always part of the menu. This year, because my family was not celebrating alone, we added some other Swedish foods as well: hard-boiled eggs, Swedish cheese, Kalas caviar, homemade rye bread, smoked salmon to stand in for the gravlax, and four kinds of sil. For those who are not used to Swedish food or don't like it, the menu can understandably be a bit of a turn-off. For those in attendance, however, it was all very delicious. Dessert was coffee and fresh strawberries, another very traditional part of the holiday.
I had the pleasure to be in Sweden for Midsummer in 2000 and had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with the Swedish relatives. My cousin took me just outside of the town he lives in and had me pick a bouquet of seven wildflowers on Midsummer's Eve. Tradition says that any unwed girl who does this and places her bouquet under her pillow on Midsummer's Eve will dream of the man she will marry that night. My bouquet did indeed rest under my pillow that night, but I woke up the next morning sadly with no recollection of any dreams. To this day, I still don't know if I dreamed of my future husband that night.
Another Swedish tradition that I was able to enjoy was the dancing around the May pole (I have no idea why it's called a May pole when the holiday is in June). Where my cousins live, the celebration is held just outside of town in a big field with a small grassy mound that gives a perfect view of the dancing. The dancers wear a traditional costume; each Swedish province has its own traditional dress. Live music is played, and everyone watches and has a good time--sometimes even joining in with the dancing. Reminiscing now makes me want to go back and see it all again.
Below are a couple of pictures of our Midsummer dinner table. Tomorrow I'll post again about 4th of July weekend (and the apple pie recipe) before returning to the topic of libraries over the weekend.
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| An overview of the Midsummer table. Can't tell it's a Swedish celebration, can you? ;) |
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| A close-up of one of the Swedish figurines my mom uses to decorate the table. |
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