Anti-library guy update
Again while reading the Gainesville Sun this morning, I found out the anti-library guy has been active lately. He wrote an opinion piece, almost exactly the same as the letter I posted here before. If you read it then, you can skip it now, but the comments have to have this guy feeling under attack. Check it out.
A couple days later the director of the library responded. Not as interesting as Elmore's op piece, but in case you want to see...
Since Elmore's piece, the Letters to the Editor column has been FULL of library supporters. March 5 and March 6.
Now, as a library employee, I know for a fact that we waste a lot of money. We buy 40 copies of the latest blockbuster movie, only to see half of them stolen within a year. We buy 50 copies of the latest bestselling novel so everyone can read it within a month, and then they end up on the shelf gathering dust. The majority of our rap CDs never come back, and the people who checked them out continue to have access to computers and, as long as they haven't stolen too many CDs, continue to check out.
But for every kid with $49.99 on their account checking out a stack of horror DVDs, I see a mother checking out a stack of picture books, an elderly couple checking out three or four bags of large print and mystery novels (which will be back in a week when they'll get another three or four bags), UF education students with piles of required reading (why, if the UF library is to be used instead, are the UF students coming to ACLD for their material?), and the long distance drivers checking out 12 books on CD (which cost approx $100 each). And if you asked any of the librarians upstairs, you'd see it goes far beyond checking out books and movies. Many forms are only online now and people need access to computers to sign up for unemployment and food stamps and apply for jobs.
I don't know why this guy is pushing for the library to be closed. He doesn't pay all his taxes anyway, as a quick search by a coworker revealed he's homesteaded three of his properties. Go away George Elmore. The county isn't going to listen to you. Move somewhere else. If you hate libraries so much, I recommend West Virginia.
A couple days later the director of the library responded. Not as interesting as Elmore's op piece, but in case you want to see...
Since Elmore's piece, the Letters to the Editor column has been FULL of library supporters. March 5 and March 6.
Now, as a library employee, I know for a fact that we waste a lot of money. We buy 40 copies of the latest blockbuster movie, only to see half of them stolen within a year. We buy 50 copies of the latest bestselling novel so everyone can read it within a month, and then they end up on the shelf gathering dust. The majority of our rap CDs never come back, and the people who checked them out continue to have access to computers and, as long as they haven't stolen too many CDs, continue to check out.
But for every kid with $49.99 on their account checking out a stack of horror DVDs, I see a mother checking out a stack of picture books, an elderly couple checking out three or four bags of large print and mystery novels (which will be back in a week when they'll get another three or four bags), UF education students with piles of required reading (why, if the UF library is to be used instead, are the UF students coming to ACLD for their material?), and the long distance drivers checking out 12 books on CD (which cost approx $100 each). And if you asked any of the librarians upstairs, you'd see it goes far beyond checking out books and movies. Many forms are only online now and people need access to computers to sign up for unemployment and food stamps and apply for jobs.
I don't know why this guy is pushing for the library to be closed. He doesn't pay all his taxes anyway, as a quick search by a coworker revealed he's homesteaded three of his properties. Go away George Elmore. The county isn't going to listen to you. Move somewhere else. If you hate libraries so much, I recommend West Virginia.