GUEST OPINION, Jan. 7
By: Steven Schlossstein
The news that Salinas, Calif., has closed its public library should serve as a wakeup call to us all.
Salinas? This is John Steinbeck’s hometown, where his proud townspeople erected a statue of him at the very library that bears his name. But it shut down on Dec. 31 because local tax revenues could no longer support it.
This is the brilliant American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 and the United States Medal of Freedom in 1968. "Grapes of Wrath" is required reading in every high school across our country.
Steinbeck must be rolling in his grave. Not that just any small town would shutter a library, but his very birthplace? According to American Library Association statistics, library closings are planned or already complete in 41 states.What a dramatic reversal from the path charted by Andrew Carnegie, who created the public library tradition in America and endowed nearly 3,000 libraries.
Endowment is what the Princeton Public Library is about today.
The Princeton Public Library Foundation was created three years ago with the goal of funding a $10 million endowment by the library’s 100th birthday in 2009.
Earnings from the endowment are earmarked for materials acquisitions (books, periodicals, reference texts, CDs and DVDs) as well as new programs like seminars, Spanish-language discussion groups and after-school tutoring.
But many people ask: Why does the library need an endowment? It’s a tax-supported institution, and our property taxes fund the library’s budget.
This is only partly true. Our municipalities borough and township together fund about 80 percent of the library’s annual operating costs, but provide no money for materials acquisitions.
That money has to be raised privately, through the efforts of the Friends of the Princeton Public Library and its new partner, the Princeton Public Library Foundation.
Think, for a moment, about the new building, well lighted and fully staffed, with a climate-controlled environment, comfortable chairs and space for future growth.
Now imagine three floors of empty bookshelves. This is what our taxes pay for.
So if we want to put books on the shelves and fund important programs, it’s up to us.
There are three things you can do next time you’re in the library:
Stop by the new library store, to the left of the entrance, which is run by the Friends. Proceeds from the store’s sales benefit the library. If you’re not yet a member of the Friends, join up. The $35 annual membership fee is one of the best buys in town.
Pick up a copy of the library’s most recent annual report. Inside you’ll find a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope for donations to the Friends as well as to the Foundation, for its important endowment.
Look for the big book on the main floor titled "New Books for the New Library," and drop a few bucks in the slot. It all helps fund the endowment. (The book is away briefly for cosmetic repairs but will return soon.)
It seems inconceivable that Princeton would ever stomach a decision to close its library. But what happened in Salinas could happen anywhere. A society that endorses the spending of billions for mindless reality shows should never tolerate the closing of even a single library.
The new building is open. But keeping books on the shelves and funding innovative programs is up to us.
Steven Schlossstein, Princeton author and Far East expert, is a board member of the Princeton Public Library Foundation.