April 16 Daily News editorial

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is marking National Library Week, April 12-18, with a pledge of $5 million to help libraries serve more people during the current economic downturn. Foundation officials hope to accomplish that goal with projects designed to enhance public support for libraries and help them raise money. Pilot projects are expected to begin this summer in Iowa and Georgia.

As usual, the Seattle-based foundation has identified what its grant recipient needs most — a strong, stable base of financial support. That need as rarely been greater than it is today. Library usage has ballooned with the sinking economy. Citizens are increasingly turning to libraries for entertainment and the many free services they offer. More people are looking to public libraries for free Internet to help with job searches and obtain information about job-training opportunities.

The American Library Association (ALA) reports that Americans visited their libraries nearly 1.4 billion times and checked out more than 2 billion items over the past year — an increase of more than 10 percent from the previous year, in both the number of visits and checked-out items. Yet, most public libraries find themselves in a weaker financial position this year than in the previous year. Forty-one states — including Washington and Oregon — report declining state funding for libraries, according to the ALA.

It’s shaping up to be a very tough fiscal year for local libraries — and librarians. The Longview School District is eliminating four elementary-school librarian positions to help close a $5.1 million budget gap. The Longview Public Library is having to close one Monday per month through the end of the year to help the city deal with its $1.5 million budget shortfall.

Castle Rock’s public library has faced a real funding crisis. Last fall’s library levy fell just nine votes short of the required 60-percent supermajority. The $42,000 levy would have provided all but $8,000 of the library’s annual budget. Its failure threatened to shut down the library by spring. But many private donors stepped up, contributing enough to keep the library operating, perhaps through the rest of the year. The city is planning another levy election in August. If approved, that levy money would be collected and distributed in 2010.

Residents of Castle Rock clearly value their library, as they should. The same can be said of Longview citizens or most people in other cities and towns with public libraries. Libraries are community treasures — very useful treasures that educate, entertain and otherwise serve both young and old in numerous ways. Children are among the heaviest users of public libraries. Children’s materials accounted for 35 percent of all circulation transactions last year, according the ALA.

Libraries offer resources and programs designed to meet communities’ immediate and future needs. It’s particularly important that citizens be made aware of their library’s value to the community in this time of economic hardship. The Gates Foundation grant will be helpful.