The Festival is an all-day affair
that showcases Louisiana-authored books, those connected with the state, and those
who write about it. Beginning in 2002, through 2009 it relied mostly on state
funding, but with the Pres. Barack Obama-inspired
non-recovery of the country’s economic fortunes, budget pressures on Louisiana
cut out that funding and 2010 saw no such event.
But Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne,
who also has the portfolio of overseeing tourism and culture efforts in the
state and as such also has the State Library under his aegis, took the lead in
arranging for private funding of the event that was leveraged into obtaining
federal government funding. Since 2011, the Festival has gone on without any
state funding.
Dardenne’s privatization strategy
was entirely correct. If authors and publishers want publicity for their
products, by having these there and by them holding readings, discussions, and
workshops, and if bibliophiles want to consume them, it’s enough that the state
pitch in some in-kind assistance with its employees organizing and it supplying
space for this. Otherwise, it’s up to those groups to use their own resources in
this effort. Government has no obligation to provide this for the
self-interests of a tiny segment of the state’s population, as government
should do only what people in general through their own honest efforts cannot
that involves an important objective – especially when competing for $300,000
in funds that, for example, could provide the equivalent of nine waiver slots
to serve the developmentally disabled. That the privatization has succeeded since
only validates this.
However, at least one of Dardenne’s
subordinates doesn’t
seem to get it. State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton recently moaned about how
a return to the status quo ante of
state funding would be so nice for the Festival, and more broadly, for the
Library itself. She complained about budget cuts of over 40 percent to $7
million in the past eight years and staff cuts nearly as much to leave 48
employees, remarking that a 43 percent rise in her employees taking sick leave was
“a strong indicator of people wearing out” as a consequence.
More expertly analyzed, that rise
can be attributed to the absurdly generous paid sick leave policy in effect for
many classified state employees of two days per month; with a realistic policy,
you might find more gamers on the job. Yet it also begs the question of whether
the Library truly does perform necessary tasks not duplicated anywhere else in state
government.
Certainly the collection of, preservation
of, and making accessible materials, locating and shuffling books through
interlibrary loan, assisting patrons in locating materials, etc. are activities
that serve a reasonably broad segment of the population (especially as the
Library coordinates among the 68 local library districts in the state). But
when reviewing its strategic
plan for the next five years inclusive, there appear some tasks more
suitably performed by other parts of state government – and in fact already are
being done by them.
For example, why does the Library
provide homework tutoring when that is a function of and is being (or should
be) performed by local school districts? Or it tries to provide job-hunting
skills and information that already is available through the Louisiana
Workforce Commission? And is not professional development of librarian skills
better served through community college or technical schools?
And cannot the job be done more
efficiently? Oklahoma, a state of similar population as Louisiana, has a whole Department of Libraries, which
performs similar tasks and maintains three state libraries for about a million
dollars fewer this year and 52 currently listed
employees.
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