Musing Monday #3

Musing Monday is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and here's our question for today:

The local Catholic school board is closing its school libraries, and parents and teachers –and even the students– are in an uproar. Budget cuts demanded that the board choose something to get rid of… they choose libraries. As such, many librarians have lost their jobs. And, the board is moving the books to the classrooms, instead. They feel that it is a good solution.

What do you think? Should the schools be without an actual “library” room? Is this a good solution?

Oh man, do not get me started on schools and "budget cuts". When it comes to schools having to cut activities, the activities are always the ones involving creativity. Never sports. Ever. Yeah, I understand that sports "draw a bigger crowd", but where's the fairness? I didn't do sports in school (of course I was only in high school for one year, then homeschooled), so if they took away my library, I would have had nothing.

I understand that schools are under a lot of pressure these days. Teachers are either underpaid, or they get fired, or if another teacher gets fired it means they have a handful more kids per classroom. There are smaller logical ways to save money, and there's even the option to RAISE money with fundraisers as well. It's just a "quick fix" to cut a program rather than find other avenues to solve money problems.

The library that I frequent by my workplace had to cut it's hours. They used to be open M-F from 9-9, but now it's cut to 10-8:30 M-Tu, 9-6 W-F. It used to be so convenient to just stop by after work, but now I can only make it there once a week if I need something, sometimes not even once a month. Last time I was in there they had a bunch of various items for sale--candies, bookmarks, etc--to raise money for the library. It shouldn't have to get to that point.

It just comes down to being really sad that things get to that point.