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From: dws@mit-eddie.UUCP (Don Saklad)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: libraries in metropolitan Boston
Message-ID: <1691@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Apr-84 11:13:32 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.1691
Posted: Fri Apr 27 11:13:32 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Apr-84 09:44:32 EST
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 57

THE BOSTON GLOBE  MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1984  p. 17

Despite budget cuts, library pursues a search for excellence

	The Globe renders a public service in the continuing coverage
it gives a great public resource, the Boston Public Library.  Excellent
as is the April 2nd, 1984 article, three important dimensions are missing.

	Nowhere mentioned is the traumatic experience of 1980 to 1982
in which the library's budget and staff were cut by one-third in reaction
to Proposition 2 1/2.  Try to visualize what would have been the impact
of such cuts on Boston's other two cultural giants, the Museum
of Fine Arts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, if you want to come
closer to the disastrous effects here.

	Currently, the library is trying to repair the damage, and strong
emphasis is being placed on the branch libraries.  The Globe's article
mentions the needs of the branches without linking thoses needs to money,
an indispensable ingredient, and also without noticing the library's
recent budget request for the coming fiscal year, emphasizing the branches.

	A second missing dimension is that essential propelling
force, a sense of mission.  The article places much emphasis on information
but not enough on education, which remains a fundamental American ideal,
with the power to rouse people and move people.  The Boston Public
Library still has its sense of educational mission but renascence
is needed.

	Technologically, the library is for more in tune with the times
than the Globe suggests.  I challenge you to examine the computer commitment
here; I challenge you to scrutinize the Audio-Visual Department,
one of the glories of the library today.

	There is a vital third dimension, the dimension of competition.
When the Japanese build a better automobile, we study it and try to
learn their techniques.  Nowhere does the article identify a public
library that is clearly the leader in its field today.

	The New York Public Library leads in public relations and fund
raising, but it also has a cumbersome bureaucracy. The Library of Congress
leads in acquisitions and programs (lectures, concerts, exhibitions),
but it, too, has developed a heavy bureaucracy.  By comparison,
the Boston Public Library is lean.  You go through fewer people
here to get something done.

	The change that's needed should be carried out in the spirit
of constructive continuity, building on great assets here--
a dedicated professional staff, remarkable collections, an ambitious
calendar of programs, energetic acquisition and publication efforts,
and a commitment to technological advance.

		SINCLAIR HITCHINGS
		Keeper of Prints
Boston		Boston Public Library

[sh should mention the lack of public information about the library--
access is poor]