From:
JDuncan802@aol.com
Sent: Sat 8/29/2009 12:09 PM
To: RRILEY99@FREEPRESS.COM;
letters@freepress.com
Dear Ms. Riley,
Your column "Knowledge, over jobs, needed for
growth" brought to the forefront the need to reignite a love of
knowledge. Over hundreds of years libraries have been one of the
strongest forces in that growth. Unfortunately, many schools have
decided that libraries are irrelevant and anachronistic, a decision
that affects the education and reading ability of all students. I
grew up in Detroit and attended Roosevelt Elementary School, an
exemplary school that contained not one, but two libraries. One was
for lower grades and one for upper grades. I owe my love of learning
to that environment.
Today the Library of Michigan is facing a crisis of
monumental proportions. Governor Granholm has decided that the
existence of this library and its 180 year collection of over 5.6
million items is not essential to Michigan. In an Executive Order
2009-36 issued July 13th, Governor Granholm abolishes the office of
State Librarian, moves the supervision of the collection to the
state Department of Education and instructs the Superintendent of
Public Instruction that "these measures shall include, but shall not
be limited to, all of the following:
a. Eliminating circulation of specific collections
(including, but not limited to, the Main, Dewey, and General
Reference collections, the Michigan collection, the Michigan
Documents collection, and the Rare Book collection) or,
alternatively, transferring such collections to other suitable
institutions.
b. Eliminating circulation and document delivery for
the law collection.
c. Suspending or eliminating participation as a
participating lending library in MeLCat.
d. Eliminating or transferring to other suitable
institutions the Federal Documents Depository and the non-Michigan
Genealogy collection.
This means that the Library of Michigan collection
will be moved from the Michigan Historical Center, designed to house
it, to Michigan State University's library - not in its entirety,
but ONLY those items that pertain strictly to Michigan. The
remainder of the collection will be dismantled and dispersed far and
wide. This priceless collection, once decimated, can NEVER be put
together again! The Library of Michigan houses the 10th largest
genealogical collection in the United States. It is in a unique
position to bargain for, and provide to local Michigan libraries,
Michigan Electronic Library (MeL) databases. These subscription
databases are essential for modern education from elementary school
through college with special databases for each age group. They
teach students how to take tests such as the ACT. They provide
access to encyclopedias and over 900 full text newspapers. Many of
the databases can be accessed from home by entering your Michigan
driver's license number. MeLCat (catalog) is a statewide ordering
system for books. It allows one to order any of 37 million items to
be delivered to your local library for your use. The collections at
the Library of Michigan also include millions of books, maps, and
rare documents as well as microfilms of historical Michigan
newspapers from all 83 counties, over 400 towns and cities and more
than 1700 individual titles. These cannot be obtained elsewhere.
Why does Governor Granholm want the Library of
Michigan, Archives of Michigan and the entire Michigan Historical
Building emptied? She wants to build, in its place, a "Michigan
Center for Innovation and Reinvention." Among the entities it would
contain would be multiple museums with a ticket fee for each, shops,
business offices, an IMAX theater that would show commercial films
at night and a 500 student high school that the Superintendent of
Schools in Lansing has not asked for. He has stated that he does not
know how they can justify opening a new school when they have
declining enrollment, have closed two schools this year and have
financial problems.
Granholm justifies this new center by saying that
the present Michigan Historical Center does not produce any income
and that the new center would solve that problem. Excuse me? There
has been NO cost estimate on the rebuilding and renovation of the
center. The plan was written by a New Jersey firm and states:
"Public, private and not-for-profit revenue sources, including some
state funding, would need to be identified." ALL of those sources
have dried up. It would need the outlay of MILLIONS of dollars over
four years before any income would be realized. The new "Center"
would be governed by a board of nine voting members. SEVEN of them
would be appointed by Governor Granholm. Running a semi- amusement
park was NOT one of the the "Seven Functions of State Government"
itemized by the governor and lieutenant governor in their Town Hall
meetings across the state!
Granholm wants the library OUT and the Michigan
Historical Center emptied. She has not looked into possble ways to
generate income. One might be to charge a fee for museum entry.
Perhaps yearly library cards could be sold for $25.00. I believe
libraries should be free, but a daily charge for usage might be
implemented. Hold a fundraiser. Promote the Library of Michigan as a
visitor venue. Hold "Come Back to Your Roots" seminars and ethnic
weekends in Lansing and at the library to celebrate the ancestry of
the ethnic groups who settled in Michigan such as the Polish,
Cornish, Dutch and Germans. The Library of Michigan has one of the
largest Polish collections in the United States donated by Mr.
Gorski. Promote it! Consult with the Allen County Library in Ft.
Wayne, a beacon for out of state tourists. Use more volunteer help.
Shorten hours. If all else fails, mothball the collection, but DON'T
dismantle it! Susan J. Demas, a political analyst stated recently,
"The most chilling part of Michigan's almost decade-long economic
crisis is that we are losing who we are as a state. If we keep
demolishing our cultural and historical assets, we're essentially
signing up for a statewide lobotomy." Ken Burns would never have
been able to film his outstanding TV series on the Civil War without
access to libraries and their collections of diaries, biographies
and local history.
Governor Granholm's Executive Order will become law
October 1st. The ONLY way that it can be stopped and save the
contents of the Michigan Historical Center intact and in place is to
persuade 2/3 of both houses of the Michigan Legislature to veto her
order and to pass resolutions that will have that effect. The Senate
has sent for full Senate vote, Senate Concurrent Resolution 18, to
disapprove Executive Order 2009-36. If you value our state and
national history and heritage and if you value your ability to
access databases at your library and at home, contact your state
senators or representatives by mail or phone NOW and ask them to
support Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 and veto the Executive
Order. Next week may be too late. Don't know the name and address of
your legislator? Ask your librarian.
Mary Lou Duncan
Genealogist, lecturer, author and amateur historian
