“Economic outlook here not brightest, Annual F&M study sees strengths; has concerns about education, dearth of high-tech jobs” goes on to report:
“The comparative underfunding of local libraries ($17.80 per capita here in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, compared to $20.52 in the region and $27.33 in the state) suggests that the county simply doesn’t value education to the extent it must to build a ‘first-class knowledge infrastructure’ — and attract the type of employers that would take advantage of it.”
WATCHDOG: This brings home how essential good libraries are for the economic prosperity and contentment of a community. But lack of funding has been but one of three reasons for the deplorable condition of some of our libraries, especially the all important Lancaster Public Library on Duke Street.
The second reason has been the way that the Lancaster Library System has been allowed to grow from its original location in the basement level in the Duke Street facility to a point where it consumes about half of the funds available from state and county sources but provides services that only justify a portion of its cost. This has been through bureaucratic manipulation rather than merit.
The third has been the inadequate level of board leadership of the Lancaster Public Library on Duke Street. If and when board leadership changes, more knowledgeable trustees take the place of the well meaning but less qualified predecessors (which has begun), and the world recovers from the current steep recession, the Watchdog, “God willing”, will once again join with others to do all that he can to see that the library is renovated and expanded. That’s a promise.
