[net-gold] LIBRARIES: PUBLIC LIBRARIES : CITIES: TORONTO, CANADA: Grim Reading in Library Dispute
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 11:40:48 -0400 (EDT)
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LIBRARIES: PUBLIC LIBRARIES :
CITIES: TORONTO, CANADA:
Grim Reading in Library Dispute
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Grim Reading in Library Dispute
Published On Fri Aug 5 2011
Matthew McKean
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/
article/1035464--grim-reading-in-library-dispute
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A shorter URL for the above link:
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http://tinyurl.com/3bl7tew
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Its appropriate that Margaret Atwood has joined the fight against the
proposed cuts to Torontos library system. En route to becoming one of
Canadas most important and best-known writers (known, it would seem, to
everyone but the mayors brother), Atwood imagined in more than one of her
novels the kind of dystopian city Toronto would become should its
libraries be cut, shuttered or privatized.
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For centuries cities have been conceived of as utopian projects built upon
ideals of reason, equality, social harmony, prosperity and happiness.
Today city planners, councillors and critics are still working toward the
same elusive goals. Those who live and work in cities hedge their bets, as
did postwar planners in the previous century, on schools, libraries,
clinics, and leisure and consumer spaces as the guardians and guarantors
of freedom, regeneration, safety and a better, cleaner, smarter life.
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snip
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The situation in Toronto is eerily similar to the U.K.s now year-round
debate about library closures, replete with literary luminaries rallying
to the cause. A professional body of librarians in the U.K. forecast last
week that some 600 libraries (or 20 per cent of the U.K.s total) are under
threat of closure. Not even J.K. Rowling can save them. It doesnt seem to
matter that National Literacy Trust and British Library-commissioned
studies have shown that reductions in opening hours and loss of service
impacted young children, immigrants and the poor most of all.
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Campaigners against library cuts in Britain have gone so far as to
organize days of protest and to fight municipal governments in court, only
to have their legal challenges blocked. Meanwhile, reports confirm that
cutting libraries will result in a less literate population. Reports also
show that a less literate population commits more crime and is saddled
with social problems that cost municipalities in countless other ways. A
literate population, in other words, is decidedly healthier, more
community-minded, informed, engaged and employable.
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snip
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Cutting libraries is in the long run an ill-conceived strategy. Its
counter-productive in every way and will almost certainly have the
cumulative effect of reversing fiction and reality. Dystopian fiction will
no longer be a cautionary tale of the writers imagination. It will no
longer be the foreshadowing or imagined end of a society, but the
permanent state of things.
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A shorter URL for the above link:
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
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