The Florida library petition
Live in Florida? This petition is a “must” sign if you value the State Library–now menaced by Gov. Bush. Remember, this pol is a librarian’s brother-in-law. Imagine the threat posed by the rest of the pack amid all the budget-cutting. No advocacy of government waste. But here we’re talking about an attack not just on a library but an entire state’s memory.
On the positive in Florida: Under the Florida Virtual Library Plan, individual library users would have access to a wider variety of material as a result of consolidated databases–with statewide licensing (perhaps to extend to e-books someday?). In a K-12 context, the plan would fit in well with the proposal of a Dade County teachers’ union leader to spread laptops around the schools, freeing computer-lab rooms for use as regular classrooms. Gov. Bush deserves credit for open-mindedness to innovation here.
But the Virtual Library, laptops, whatnot, would be no substitute for the dusty old archives of the very physical State Library. Hey, Guv, have you really thought this one over?
(Info on petition via Infomaniac.)
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