A community without books

“Rather a king without a kingdom rather than a king without books.”

Centuries ago those words were allegedly uttered by a ruler whose legacy is scant. They have been repeated in various forms.

And in Gulf County we may soon have to contemplate a community without a library and the wonder is whether that something we wish to contemplate.

There is no shortage of the injured in this down economy and there are reams of ink and barrels of paper that could be expended about the impact to services provided by the Senior Citizens Center and other social net programs and organizations.

Unfortunately, they are among the first to feel the pain, the first up on the block when the cost-cutting axe is wielded, in large measure because they lack the kind of squeaky-wheel advocate, or close connection to power, that would send them to the back of the line.

The Gulf County Library in Port St. Joe has “friends,” as in the friends organization that can provide some fund-raising ability and lend support, but these are still turbulent times for the library.

Two years ago the county cut funding to the library by more than $11,000. The city of Port St. Joe provides funding of $4,000, but there have been no increases or additional funding the past four years.

The state grants to libraries are in large measure based on matching local expenditures, so as local monies stagnate and decrease, so too do state funds.

Further, the pool of state dollars from which the state grant fund is fed, evaporated by 12.48 percent during the special legislative session this year and another 9 percent was pumped out of that number during the spring regular legislative session.

Compared to 2006-07, the library in Port St. Joe is projected to be operating next year with $37,827 less from a budget hardly bulging in 2006-07.

The state eliminated book funds for local and state appropriations. The library was left to rent books.

Rent books – a library. Let that one marinate a spell.

The Friends of the Libraries in Port St. Joe donated $10,000 for books and materials, but let’s just leave it at that didn’t leave much in the account for the “friends.”

 At this point there are no increases in funding from local or state sources anticipated. A further decrease in state funding is likely. No funds are in the state budget for books and materials.

No salary increases for employee. No cost of living increases, no merit increases.

Reduction in staffing, and in turn a reduction in operating hours, is a real possibility.

And that is troubling in the big picture – how to describe a community without a library – but also when considering the library is one of the growth industries in Gulf County.

Since October 2006, holders of library cards, in other words registered patrons of the library, have risen from 4,500 to just over 6,000. This while the population has remained stagnate or possibly even fallen.

And a walk through on most any day of operation highlights that this library, which received a beautiful new addition in the past three or four years, often has the look of a community college extension library.

The bank of computers is always in use, more so in these tough times as folks file for unemployment compensation, fill out food stamp applications and apply for other aid online.

These days in a small town it is often the only way to accomplish the task. For many at risk of falling through the cracks in these difficult economic times, a computer with access to the Internet can be a luxury ill-afforded, among the first items to have the plug pulled.

Folks make and print resumes. They download tax forms or do their taxes online. They take online driver’s license and preparatory classes.

For students, the library provides a font of resources for researching and writing papers or science projects, preparing for college entrance exams, applying for college financial aid, taking distance learning classes.

The third-grade library card program – use it enough and in April that third-grader is treated to a pizza party – attracted almost 60 participants last year.

The library is especially busy during the months that the snowbirds and the summer visitors arrive

Such visitors come to access the Internet, check e-mail and checkout books, but to do so they also pass most of the commercial district in town, where they buy gas, groceries and shop, providing revenue some small businesses might not otherwise see.

But consider if operating hours are curtailed to, say, 42 hours a week. Less open time, more people, bigger crowds, less access to the already strained resources.

That’s why the “Friends of the Libraries of Port St. Joe” is reaching out. The very same factors are buffeting the Charles Whitehead Public Library in Wewahitchka – both Gulf County libraries are under the Bay County regional system – but the Friends organization can only assist the Port St. Joe facility.

They need members. For starters, it costs just $10 per year to join. The group meets the first Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m.

Folks are encouraged to attend and provide input. New voices and new viewpoints are always welcome.

There is a used book sale the third Saturday of every month. An excellent time to rid oneself of some old boxes, clear an attic or a garage and help a community maintain a viable library.

Donations of books are always welcome, as are grants, anonymous or otherwise.

At this juncture the whole point is saving a library, which lies to close to the heart of any community, especially a small community, maybe even more so, as counterintuitive as it may sound, in this age of technology.

For too many the access to that technology is currently only available at the library.

The question was asked at the outset of the space and remains the same – do we want to be a community without any books?