Ruth Holladay of the Indianapolis Star begins her column “The headline should be: “More libraries open on Sunday!” said Linda Mielke, the 58-year old CEO of the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. She was emphatic, enthusiastic and pitching hard.
Holladay goes on to say
“Sorry, Linda, but columnists don’t write the headlines. If we did, I’d offer this: “Libraries perishing, pandering to pop culture, forgoing historic mission.”
Or maybe just this: “Library, Googled to near-death, struggles to survive in future. Books, what books?”
The Indianapolis Marion County Public Library system, one of the nation’s largest, is going through changes. Holladay refers to cuts in both staff and materials budgets, but is less than sympathetic regarding Marion County’s “Change Management Plan”.
This is very serious, but…
All I can think of is, “Can you imagine having to be ‘the Marion librarian'”?