Do States Want to Defund Libraries Now?

As if book banning wasn’t bad enough

From PBS’ website — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/librarians-say-a-missouri-house-proposal-to-eliminate-library-funding-would-have-devastating-ripple-effects

Missouri House Republicans want to defund libraries. Here’s why

Politics Updated on Apr 14, 2023 11:39 AM EDT — Published on Apr 13, 2023 5:11 PM EDT

ST. LOUIS– Missouri’s Republican-led House voted to cut all funding for libraries in its version of the state’s annual budget, an unprecedented move that has angered librarians and patrons across the state who rely on the facilities for everything from books to educational programming and internet access.

The proposal is not yet final; it now sits before the state Senate’s appropriations committee along with the rest of the annual $45.6 billion budget, and Republican chair Sen. Lincoln Hough said it would be his intention to restore library funding.

But for those who manage or use the state’s 160 library districts, especially in rural areas where services are not as robust, the threat feels real, librarians and patrons told the PBS NewsHour.

“The majority of Missouri libraries are small libraries, and for smaller communities that rely on this funding to serve their communities, to provide summer reading programming, to provide new books, new materials, books, and to pay their staff, this will have an absolutely devastating effect,” said Judy Garrett, who has served as a librarian at the Gentry County Public Library for 27 years.

Gentry County, located 90 miles north of Kansas City, is home to little over 6,000 people, many of whom, like residents in other rural parts of the state, rely heavily on their libraries for internet access, Garrett said.

In Missouri, 20 percent of the population — more than 1.26 million people — do not have high-speed internet access. Nearly 34 percent of Missouri’s population live in rural parts of the state, where this kind of access can be harder to come by. Libraries provide a lifeline to this service, among others.

Book banning harkens back centuries when ruling tyrants destroyed books they deemed “ungodly.” This was a tactic to keep the commoners ignorant about government affairs — and injustices.

I think defunding libraries is another way to keep people ignorant about the world. This is the literal “dumbing down” of America. How can we let citizens become less literate? Literacy is a human right!

Missouri needs to rethink this plan — for the sake of its people.