INDEPTH
US Election – what’s at stake?
The instability and fear emanating from the US Presidential Election on 5 November has left the world in a state of limbo. Here Jennie Rose Halperin, Director of Library Futures at NYU Law’s Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, explains why US public libraries should be buffered from the immediate impact, but has gathered comments from her colleagues across the US library sector showing threat levels remain high.
WHILE the world’s eyes are turned to the US Presidential election, when it comes to the future of libraries, the stakes are signif- icantly higher at the state and local levels. Federal funding for libraries is minimal, coming to just under $200m. The total operating expenses for libraries including local funds is estimated at around $8bn which means that federal funding makes up only 2.5 per cent of all funding, at most. While the federal government might set the cultural tone for schools and libraries as well as provide needed IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) funding to support programs and services, ultimately, it is up to voters to vote in their local elections to ensure that library services continue apace with community needs. Needless to say, Democrats look more favourably on libraries, particularly at the federal level, and support for education and libraries should be a centrepiece of policy discussions in the US.
With censorship and other challenges to intellectual freedom on the rise, there is signifi- cant concern for the future of libraries in the US. Library workers around the country are seeing funding slashed and livelihoods threatened by bad actors, even as the need for services continues, bolstered by high wealth inequality and neoliberal privatisation that underscores the need for public services. Ultimately, the future of libraries in the US comes down to a brutal fight for resources that are currently being threatened by reactionary forces around the country. The precipitous rise of anti-democratic rhetoric alone should be evidence that libraries are more crucial than ever.
38 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Jennie Rose Halperin is Director of Library Futures.
While this may paint a bleak picture of the state of American libraries, there is also a flourishing of innovation at the local level led by workers, as illus- trated by Shamichael Hallman’s new book Meet Me at the Library (we’re doing a book talk with Shami- chael in December!), and a new surge of interest in intellectual freedom initiatives led by a coalition of actors from across the sector. Libraries are made up of people – the workers, the patrons, and the broader communities they serve. Supporting libraries means supporting unions; fos- tering civic engagement; addressing neoliberalism, colonialism, genocide, and hegemony; decreasing wealth inequality; and increasing community access to quality information.
But rather than answering this question myself, I asked library leaders from around the country to tell me: What’s next for libraries after Novem- ber? Below, a selection of their answers, edited for length and clarity and divided into themes:
October-November 2024
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