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I yield to no one in my steadfast love of libraries, and I'm sure that the state government could have found better places to make cuts. However... ...this wo

by Lazare 15y ago

I yield to no one in my steadfast love of libraries, and I'm sure that the state government could have found better places to make cuts. However... ...this would be slightly more interesting if it wasn't only a 3% cut to the funding of Californian libraries. (Well, according to my back of the envelope calculation. The linked article claims the entire $30m of state funding has been cut. As of 2007, Californian libraries were apparently getting total funding (federal, state and local) of $26.47 per person. The population of California is 37m in 2009, which implies that California has total library spending of around $920m/year. And $30m is only 3% of $920m. To crosscheck, I found a report from 2000 that estimates total US library spending at $12b/year, and since California has around 12% of the total US population, that would imply around a $1.5b/year in spending. I assume spending has gone up quite a bit since then, so $920m/year certainly doesn't seem too high. I'd welcome better numbers if anyone can find them!) Again, I don't support these cuts. But the article lacks context, and what context I can find from a few minutes of searching makes this seem very underwhelming. (Related: back in around 2003 some people loved to talk about how Bush had increased federal education spending by 70% in his first three years. Quite true, but quite misleading if you didn't know that it was being increased from a base of effectively nil, since the federal government isn't responsible for education. Context matters!)

nknight 15y ago
Actually, the article has plenty of context for its intended audience. It specifies that it's state funding, lists the programs being cut, and notes the primary concern of advocates: equal access. The publication is called "Library Journal". It's not intended for the general public, it's intended for librarians and others concerned with the operation of libraries. That audience will have no trouble understanding the article.
- Lazare 15y ago
  You're right, and I was not intending to criticize the article as such, but rather the submission. It is relevant, important news to librarians, and contained all the context it needed. But I doubt one person in 100 who saw it on Hacker News had that context. And in particular, I suspect the people commenting on the article in apocalyptic terms do not have that context. But it was a perfectly fine article. :)
jbooth 15y ago
I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd much prefer to see "this was the line item last year, and this is the line item this year", rather than saying some circumstantial evidence supersedes a black and white figure. If he cut state funding to zero, he cut state funding to zero. If some municipalities can still afford to run libraries on their own dime, that doesn't really change the fact. Especially considering that federal grants have dried up and municipal budgets have tightened over the last 10 years.

by Lazare 15y ago

nknight 15y ago

Actually, the article has plenty of context for its intended audience. It specifies that it's state funding, lists the programs being cut, and notes the primary concern of advocates: equal access. The publication is called "Library Journal". It's not intended for the general public, it's intended for librarians and others concerned with the operation of libraries. That audience will have no trouble understanding the article.

Lazare 15y ago
You're right, and I was not intending to criticize the article as such, but rather the submission. It is relevant, important news to librarians, and contained all the context it needed. But I doubt one person in 100 who saw it on Hacker News had that context. And in particular, I suspect the people commenting on the article in apocalyptic terms do not have that context. But it was a perfectly fine article. :)

jbooth 15y ago

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd much prefer to see "this was the line item last year, and this is the line item this year", rather than saying some circumstantial evidence supersedes a black and white figure. If he cut state funding to zero, he cut state funding to zero. If some municipalities can still afford to run libraries on their own dime, that doesn't really change the fact. Especially considering that federal grants have dried up and municipal budgets have tightened over the last 10 years.