We're two sisters who are craft book publishers and found ourselves in the midst of an avocado grove. We bought this house where we planned to conduct our publishing business and in the deal got 4 acres of avocado trees thrown in. Now we're not only publishers but ranchers as well! This blog is all about avocados and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Sepia Saturday #152 The End of Public Libraries?

Our prompt photo for Sepia Saturday this week pictures school boys studiously perusing the books in their library. I previously posted about the library I remember as a youth, the Pomona library.

Since that post the news has come out that the Pomona Library is in jeopardy of closing due to serious budget cuts. They've managed to get enough funds together to stay open for another year, but the city has just voted down a measure that would have funded the library far into the future.  What's wrong with these people? Don't they treasure their library?





It seems that Pomona's is not the only library in the country that has been forced to tighten their belts. Even the Library of Congress is having funding problems and this seems to be part of a national trend. There appears to be unconcern about cutting library services until there is an emergency such as in Brooklyn when there was a threat to close 40 branches. Then the people staged a protest. Their slogan was "We will not be shushed".



The Huffington Post has even created a special section titled "Libraries in Crisis".

Photo from The Huffington Post Libraries in Crisis

Perhaps in the future we will only have Little Free Libraries such as the ones in Helen McHargue's post this week.


Speaking of reading, books and libraries, I did a post not too long ago about my favorite childhood books (all of which I read as library books). Anyway, they were a series called Betsy - Tacy by Maude Hart Lovelace. At the time I wrote that post I only had a few original copies of the books and I made myself a goal of collecting the whole series. Well, I've finally done it. Thanks to Ebay and Amazon I was able to find every single book! 

 This is the very first of the series:

And this, the final one:

Some of them aren't in the greatest shape, but I love them anyway - every single one.

For other biblio tales click here: Sepia Saturday.






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13 comments:

  1. KristinNovember 16, 2012 at 5:28 PM

    I don't know why people don't realize the importance of libraries, archives and other repositories of information. I guess many of them think you can find everything on the internet.

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  2. KathyNovember 16, 2012 at 9:58 PM

    I feel so fortunate to live in a city that just approved bonds for libraries in the recent election. We'll have a new main library in a couple of years. I missed out on the Betsy-Tacy books, but love collecting the ones that have meaning for me. Happy for you that you completed the set!

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  3. WendyNovember 17, 2012 at 5:00 AM

    "We will not be shushed" - love that slogan! Closing a library - man, what a commentary!

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  4. UnknownNovember 17, 2012 at 5:09 AM

    I don't know the Betsy-Tacy books, either, but I think I'll try to scare up a couple! Do you know about the Rollo series?

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  5. Bob ScotneyNovember 17, 2012 at 5:30 AM

    On the local news today in the North of England there was a piece on the impending closure of 18 libraries. The Central Library in Stockton-on-Tees is the only one I've heard of that's increasing its budget but then it provides a lot of services just like your Gilpin Library

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  6. Kat MortensenNovember 17, 2012 at 5:35 AM

    They were going to close one of the libraries here, and move everything to a smaller Main Street library, but there was an outcry against it and they changed the plan. When people speak out, they can be heard!

    I love spending time in libraries, next to thrift stores they are my favourite places to be!

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  7. PostcardyNovember 17, 2012 at 6:40 AM

    Minneapolis built a beautiful new library not too long ago and then ran into money problems. It ended up becoming part of the county library system.

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  8. Helen Killeen Bauch McHargueNovember 17, 2012 at 10:49 AM

    I can't figure out why some people can't see the value of libraries. What would we do in Fallbrook without ours? At midnight last night I was up reading that masterpiece of 70's food photography, "The Joy of Jello" acquired from the Bottom Shelf and discovered by browsing - the real browsing where an hour flies by and you're still looking through a dusty book of specialty ties for trout fishing or a stamp collecting guide and you have to force yourself to leave. Congratulations on completing your collection.

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  9. PeterNovember 17, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    And it's not only libraries, also archives are suffering from budget cuts e.g. the Georgia Archives...

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  10. Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the GardensNovember 17, 2012 at 1:37 PM

    Public libraries are a very important part in the community. People have to get up and rally for their rights. Together you are strong. Nancy, glad you were able to find the whole set of your favourite children's books. It is something beautiful these fond memories of books one loved as a child and never forgets.

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  11. Jana Iverson LastNovember 17, 2012 at 4:26 PM

    Congrats on completing your Betsy - Tacy collection! It really is a shame about libraries struggling with budget cuts.

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  12. Alan BurnettNovember 18, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    A great hymn in praise of books and libraries. The closure trend is, unfortunately, a worldwide one.

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  13. Liz StrattonNovember 18, 2012 at 4:20 PM

    A sad post about the library closures. Our library has experienced phenomenal growth in usage and is still beset with budget cuts.

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