Reasons to be Hopeful

With 2009, and the first decade of the 21st century nearly behind us (doesn't it feel weird to say that?), a reflective mood begins for many us to look over the past year and how far we've come in that time. Perhaps I say this understatedly, but it hasn't been a good year, some might say it hasn't even been a good decade. For libraries, and for the entire information science field, 2009 wasn't a good year.

The current economic crisis has brought shrinking state and federal budgets which have resulted in desperate decisions by library managers to keep their facilities open: shortening hours, cutting acquisitions and programs, hiring freezes. In some areas entire library branches have either shut down or threatened to close. Despite this, public libraries have reported increased circulation and visitors this year, mostly thanks to the demand for the services the library provides to the public for free. Awareness of the value of libraries and the services they provide has resulted in a public that is more appreciative and willing to defend libraries from budget cuts.

In addition to this bittersweet resilience of libraries, there are other hopeful signs that 2010 might bring some exciting developments for libraries across the country.

• The Gates Foundation has committed to funding $3.4 million in grants to improve broadband access in libraries across five states. While the federal government had not initially shown interest in providing funding through stimulus money, the Gates Foundation will help 14 states compete for federal grant money to improve access to the internet.
• The HathiTrust Digital Library announced a full-text search service that will allow users to search 4.6 million books of both public domain and in copyright books. Unlike Google Books, HathiTrust is particularly concerned with preservation and implementing improved metadata.
• Barbara M. Jones has been named the new director of the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom, continuing the work of the late Judith F. Krug who passed away this year from cancer.
• CLIR has awarded funds to 14 libraries to create the Hidden Collections Registry. The project aims to digitize records for "hidden" or uncatalogued special collections (one of these libraries is CUA!).