Attack on BC Libraries, HELP!

"BC provincial public libraries have not yet received their 2009 annual operating grants from the provincial government, nor have they been told how much money they will be receiving – both of which usually happen earlier in the fiscal year. There have been strong indications that the Province has decided to stop funding libraries and that this funding may be cut from the current and subsequent budgets.

During this economic downturn, there has been a significant increase in the usage of BC public libraries. Residents know that their libraries offer more than free books to read – they are using the Internet and computer systems to do research, hunt for jobs and more. Without provincial grants, significant cuts will result."

Help us save our libraries, please sign the petition at:

Don't Pull the Plug

source: BC Library Trustees Association

Activist Librarian

"The information industry has the technology to control information, but its price tag on information distribution and its profit goal create a bias in what information is made available and how it is dispensed. Only the nonprofit organization, the library, dedicated to a total community service goal with trained experts, librarians, running the operation can provide the full scope of information for the total population in a fair and objective manner."

--Library civil rights activist, administrator, author, and educator E. J. Josey, founder of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (ALA) and the ALA's second black president (1984-85).