Libraries are everybody’s priority

To the editor:

I commend your editorial regarding Wasilla Library and the lack of support for library funding. However, indifference to issues involving the libraries are not unique to Wasilla, but extends all the way to the governor’s office.

When she was governor, Sarah Palin determined in her budget that libraries is “not a state responsibility,” while education is a state responsibility. Regardless of the fact that more than 1,000 homeschooled and alternative school children use the Mat-Su public libraries as their primary source for information, that libraries run GED programs, computer learning programs, provide early reading to preschoolers and so much more, the library is overlooked as a core learning center.

From 1995 to 2002, I was a sales representative for a large educational reference publisher and visited hundreds of libraries. Alaska was part of my territory. The Mat-Su libraries are antiquated, much like the libraries in depressed areas of the country. They contain outdated content and resources borough-wide, not just in a few small libraries. In comparison to other states, I found that Alaska public libraries depended on more government funding and less on community and advocate fund-raising. Alaska is considered a soft market. Companies do not spend their marketing dollars on efforts here to present new, innovative products to our libraries. The state library, along with the University of Alaska, decides what core electronic resources we have in our libraries.

Even our state representatives are not aware of the importance of libraries because they don’t hear from constituents. In a discussion with former state senator Lyda Green a few months ago, I found she thought that school and public libraries were redundant. Academic, school, public and business libraries fulfill vital and completely different needs and services.

While attending meetings between library staff, friends groups and borough library management, territorial issues continue to crop up bringing progress to a halt. No one entity is working with the other; each is vying for turf or recognition for coming up with “the solution.” Cities and the borough throw threats at residents of imposed fees, possible closing of libraries and now a moratorium on new purchases. This not only hurts the casual readers, but the students and adults who use the library as a learning center.

Nationwide, the strongest library systems are a consortium of schools, cities, counties, the state and businesses working together.

Linda Henning

Wasilla