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In the 3rd cent. BC there was constructed in
Alexandria, Egypt one of the most magnificent libraries the world has ever known.
Not only did it house most of the
literary output of Greece, Persia, Africa and India, but it also
served as what we today would consider a graduate school for scientific and
literary research. It was there that Eratosthenes calculated the size of the
earth, that Hipparchus catalogued the positions of the stars and that Euclid
devised his geometric calculations. There too Galen, the famous physician,
wrote his works on medicine and anatomy. Under the Ptolomies, the greatest
works of the Greek playwrights, historians and epic writers, as well as Greek
translations of the Old Testament, were collected. Unfortunately, most of
these treasures were lost in the great destruction of the library seven
centuries later, and it is only through the grace of the Arabic transmission
process that we have the smattering of works we do from such writers as
Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. Yet, the library at Alexandria set the standard for all
future libraries, whether they be in small towns, large cities, or, more
recently, contiguous regions. No longer merely repositories for book
collections, libraries have become educational institutions in every respect,
and they work side by side with our public schools and institutions of higher
learning to foster research, scholarship and critical reading skills. Fortunately, we in Williamsburg and James City have a
regional library second to none. Having begun as a relatively small library
in Williamsburg, the facilities there have been expanded considerably, and a
new library has been constructed in Norge. And, as a result, business is
booming. According to Patrick Golden, the Information Director for the
library, their collection now includes over 324,000 print and non-print
items, and during the last six months of 2001 their circulation soared to
600,000 items, an 11% increase over the previous year. And this in an area
that comprises only 60-65,000 residents! In addition to
their adult collection, the library has special collections for children and
young adults, all of which are used to full capacity. In fact, one of their
more popular offerings is the pre-school reading program, in which up to 50%
of our local children participate. There is also a children’s summer reading
program, which is supported strongly by Friends of the Library. But most
important is the fact that the library represents a research haven for
students working on school projects or homework assignments that go beyond
the reach of school libraries. As a result, it is to our library system that
we must attribute at least some of the rise in local SOL scores. The big move these days, of course, is into the electronic
sphere. Under state guidelines, the Infopowering the Commonwealth program has
been established to assure the availability of online databases, and to this
end our library has installed 19 computers in the Williamsburg facility and
10 in Norge, the majority of which are online. They also provide internet
classes for both beginners and more advanced users. In the near future, they
hope to get their full library catalog onto PCs with internet connections. And yet, our library, like all state supported
institutions, is, due to the budget crunch in Richmond, in great danger of
losing substantial funding. Indeed, if the cuts proposed by Governor Gilmore
and now Governor Warner are instituted, the WJC library may well sustain a
27% cut in state funding in the next fiscal year. According to John Moorman,
the Library Director, this would mean a loss of about $142,000, all of which
would come out of the budget for new books and other materials. In addition,
if funding for educational needs and teacher raises falls solely to
localities, this too could affect the amount of county and city money
available for the library. Such a scenario, I submit, would represent a
tremendous, detrimental loss, and especially to students and researchers who
count on the library to have the most up-to-date materials, whether they be
books, DVDs, CDs or other electronic and computer resources. Within the next few days the Virginia Library Association
and its members will be lobbying legislators to reduce this potential damage
to local libraries. We here in the Williamsburg area can help by writing to
our local legislators, and especially to Senator Norment, who sits on the
Senate Finance Committee. In addition, we might well take our case to
Governor Warner, as well as to the secretaries of finance and education, both
of whom deal with library allocations. Though not quite the library of Alexandria, our regional
library is a commendable offspring of that venerable institution. In fact,
their philosophies are the same. Mr. Moorman and his associates have
developed one of the finest comprehensive library/research facilities in the state, if not the
nation. Devoted to the transmission of knowledge and learning in every genre,
it, as did the library at Alexandria, should have the full support not only
of the citizens who use it, but of our governmental leaders as well. To
sacrifice future Euclids on the altar of ill-advised car tax reductions and
budget cuts was and will be patently unwise, if not downright stupid |
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lewleadbeater.com Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
email: LWL@lewleadbeater.com |
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