A week for the books

Next week will be an important one for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. During the week of December 15, the state senate will consider the education portion of the state budget, the only section of the budget not approved earlier this year.

It will be an opportunity to make changes in other portions of the budget, according to State Sen. Allyson Schwartz, restoring cuts to programs such as libraries.

Because of the state budget crisis in which 50 percent of the funding was cut to all libraries, the Free Library of Philadelphia has stopped the purchase of all books and materials through June 2004. According to the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia, unless full funding for state aid to libraries — 36.8 percent or $2,395,000 — is restored, there will be no new adult and children’s titles, paperbacks and bestsellers; no new audio-visual materials, no new videos, CDs and audio books, no foreign language publications, no special requests by patrons and limited use of electronic databases.

For the Chestnut Hill branch of the Free Library, it means that the librarians will no longer be able to meet patrons’ special requests by using their discretionary funds to make purchases at a bookstore or through a book clearinghouse, according to Children’s Librarian Irene Klemas-Brady. And there will be no new books, videos, CDs or audio books coming from the Free Library headquarters, which purchases most of the materials.

 Schwartz, who supports restoration of the funding, points out that libraries are important to all of us, but they are especially critical to the children of Philadelphia, who use the Free Library’s computers and other materials. Children, and indeed all Philadelphians, will never be able to get ahead in life and help make the city the best it can be without the updated information they would get at a fully funded library. Call Schwartz’s office (215-242-9710) or e-mail her at Schwartz@pasenate.com and show your support for fully funded libraries in Pennsylvania.

Katie Worrall