Archive for the ‘Pennsylvania’ Category
I Guess Libraries Don’t Have Anything To Do With Education
The Pennsylvania budget signed by Gov. Rendell last October drastically cuts funding for libraries. How bad is it? The Pennsylvania Library Association gives us some specifics. Overall, library funding is down like $25 million. The Library Access program, which supports, among other things, the PA Power Library of online databases, lost $4 million in funding for 2009-2010. Is that a big deal? More than that — it’s fatal, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
“Everyone from auto repair troubleshooters to students of Japanese uses them. They offer online tutoring in subjects ranging from chemistry to writing, and they give advice to job seekers preparing resumes and cover letters. But many of the hundreds of subscription databases offered by Pennsylvania’s public libraries — and the convenient remote access many of them offer — will vanish this year, victims of slashed state and local funding. ‘We are talking about dozens of sources of reliable information, vital educational tools that reach tens of thousands of students with little money,’ said Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association.”
Personally, I’ll really miss the Power Library databases, especially ReferenceUSA for people/company research and the auto repair guides. (Guess I’ll have to get busy and download the complete guide for my 1995 Subaru.)
Note that Mr. Miller called the PA Power Library a collection of “vital educational tools”. Governor Rendell doesn’t exactly share his view — here are 2 press releases from da gov last October:
Notice that he says education’s doing just fine, thank you very much, in PA budget land? Welcome to Pennsylvania,where learning ends when the school bell rings at 3:00.
