00;00;01;03 - 00;00;05;06
So we are really
right now teetering on the precipice

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of the Armageddon of library funding.

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Nobody is talking about this.

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Welcome to CADL Cast with Capital Area

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District Libraries
Executive Director Scott Duimstra.

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As Capital Area District Library passed
their most recent operational millage.

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Thank you voters.

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We wanted to raise awareness
of public library funding and highlight

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the work of every library,
a nonprofit organization that helps secure

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funding and works to ensure that libraries
will be available for communities,

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for schools,
and for colleges around the US.

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Joining us today is Patrick Sweeney,
political director of EveryLibrary.

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Patrick,
thanks for joining us on CADL Cast.

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Thank you.

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Thanks for having me.
I really appreciate it.

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And I know I gave a very, very brief
overview of every library

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in the introduction.

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And so could you talk about how every
library formed and your mission as well?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So every library was formed in 2012,
largely in response to

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the growing anti-tax,
anti-government movement

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that was spawned
during the Great Recession.

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So we saw a small

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but very vocal
minority of Americans who wanted to

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eliminate

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tax funding for libraries
or eliminate libraries

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in and of themselves because they are tax
funded government organizations.

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And what we found in launching
our organization is a 501c4,

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which is essentially a social issue PAC
for libraries, political action

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committee for Libraries.

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Is that

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libraries very rarely have the tools

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or the resources to advocate fully

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on their own behalf.

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So when libraries are attacked,

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there's very little
that the library itself can do.

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Your friends, your foundation can take
far more action in the library again.

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But often those are volunteer groups, or

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they're organized around book sales
and library

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funds and library fundraisers,
but not necessarily library advocacy.

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And that's sort of a different thing.

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Most of the library campaigns
and elections that we see are run

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by a handful of community

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members who just want to see children
learn to read.

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They want to see economic opportunities
for their community.

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They want to see

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our decreased

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crime rates.

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They just want to see improvement
within their community.

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And they don't have the tools
or tactics or training.

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They're not political operatives.

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They've never run
political campaigns before.
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And so we developed every library
as an organization to provide

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tools and data and training

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for free to local libraries.

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Who would go into the voters?

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Since that time, we've grown.

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We've taken on some other fights,
the legislature on legislative issues,

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and we're deeply involved in the book
banning issues that we're seeing today.

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But every library help

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libraries gain about $2.8 billion

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in stable funding through tax dollars
through our work.

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And we've worked on
about 127 library campaigns,

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about as many school library issues
and non

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non ballot
initiative issues, the legislative work,

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public

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library closure work, that kind of stuff.

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But just as as a as a bystander,

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you know, the work
that that your organization does is

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is phenomenal because I can tell you,
we are we have a very short millage cycle.

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So we go out every four years
and ask for our operation millage

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if things go smoothly.

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As you said, there's a small group of
core volunteers that help get it passed.
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If there's no

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issues around it, it's usually very easy.

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As soon as there's

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any type of conflict or a vote,
no group, it gets very, very complicated.

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And you are totally right.

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The volunteers are usually sign
up, are not prepared or not

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trained on how to respond
to some of those vote no initiatives.

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Yeah.

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And what you just said that
I think is really, really important.

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You know, we don't have a culture
of advocacy in the library industry.

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To a.

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Sophisticated level simply
because we've never had to have it before.

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Correct.

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Could put out a couple of signs
that say vote yes for the library

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and it would generally pass.

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That was a library campaign before 2008.

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Since then, we've really had the fight
and we're fighting against more

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and more sophisticated
political operatives with more funding

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for, better organize and have huge tools
that they're at their fingertips

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from national organizations like Americans
for Prosperity, Moms for Liberty,

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those kinds of groups.
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Intent related to that.

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Just what do you see nationwide
as is the current climate in the U.S.

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regarding library
funding and also library support?

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Oh, we're screwed.

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Yeah.

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Not to be too blunt about it, of course.

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No. You know, so so 98% of library

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funding is political in nature. 98%

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before every library.

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There's never been an organization
that works on that 98% of library funding.

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Various state associations worked on state
library, State
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Library funding issues, which is about 3
to 5% of their funding matrix.

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ALA worked on federal funding issues,

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which is again
another 3 to 5% of library funding.

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But 90% of library funding comes

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at the local level from local voters
and local legislators.

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And there's never been an organization
before working at that level

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to build support in that capacity
for working at that level.

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And because libraries have really
had to fight for their funding before,

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we never took the time to look at voter
perceptions of libraries.

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We've never done public opinion poll.
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We don't have voter models around
to vote for libraries or why.

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The only two times that we've ever had

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a longitudinal study on looking at voter

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support from libraries is in the study
called Awareness to Funding by OCLC.

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Yeah, it's an incredibly,
incredibly important piece of research

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that I mean, the fact
that it's not required

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reading for every labor in America
just is beyond me.

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Because what they found
is that between 2008 and 2018,

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we've lost about 20% of voters
support for libraries, 20%.

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And that was five years ago
that that dataset came up.

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So who knows where we are now?

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So right now or in 2018, five years ago,

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42% of Americans
were unlikely to vote for their library,

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largely based on their beliefs
on government and taxation

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and the role of government and taxes
in American society.

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Very, very rarely is it like,
I hate the library.

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We almost never do that.

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It's always just, I love the library.
Somebody else should pay for it.

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So what's

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devastating is that once
that number gets above 50%,
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which is the voter threshold
that we need to win in an election.

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So if more than 50% of Americans
on average across the country

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are unlikely to vote for their libraries,
that is the end of local library

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funding because voters
aren't going to vote for it.

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Legislators
aren't going to to enact legislation

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in support of libraries
because voters don't support it.

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So we are really right now
teetering on the precipice

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of the Armageddon of library

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funding, and nobody is talking about it.

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Yeah, I read that OCLC record
and presented it to our staff.

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And as you just talked about,

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our our operation ideology accounts
for about 90% of our funding.

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Without it, we would cease to exist.

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And I see some of the no voters
that that we hear from are well,

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there's other ways that you can pay for it

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rather than my tax dollars,
like the state will come in and rescue you

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or the federal government
will come in and rescue you and.

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Have just.

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Like, no, there is no one for us.

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Like your library will close

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without this.

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And it's it's trying to tell your story,
but it's also

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advocating and having an advocate

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avocation campaign and also a group
like every library to help with that.

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Because as you said, library
directors, library boards

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are not trained to do this type of work
or not familiar with it at least.

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Yeah.

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Know when I, when I started,
when I got out of library school,

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it was just before the recession.

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I got to manage the opening
of a brand new library

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and then I immediately had to
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lay off half my staff.

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We had to take 15% furlough days.

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We cut the library hours
from 80 from 80 hours a week

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to like 30 hours a week.

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And what I quickly realized a year
out of library school

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is that nobody had ever
taught me where my paycheck comes from.

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Nobody ever taught me how I paid
for the books on the shelf.

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And nobody taught me how to influence,
how to pay for books on the shelf.

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And that and and that is
I mean, that is such a fundamental misstep

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in the way that we train librarians
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who don't understand
the legalities of fundraising,

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who do understand
the legalities of advocacy,

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the tools,
tips, tricks of community organizing,

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the things that really power our libraries
are missing from library school.

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I think that is wildly terrifying.

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I wholeheartedly agree,

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and it's something
that you learn from experience, but

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you also have to go through that
experience and be open to it as well too.

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So I think I wholeheartedly agree
and I think it is, as you mentioned,

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one of the biggest threats
to public libraries in the US as well too.
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And as we know, another threat is kind

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of the active campaign against libraries

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based on the materials that they have
and we've seen a lot of that in Michigan.

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But I also know that it's happening
nationally as well, too.

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So what are you seeing
is nationally regarding the threats

00;10;10;00 - 00;10;14;17
to library funding based on the materials
that libraries have in their collections?

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Yeah, I mean, this is this is just
an absolutely wild time right now.

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Mm hmm.

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We have

00;10;21;18 - 00;10;25;26
organizations like Moms for Liberty
who are very well financed,
00;10;25;26 - 00;10;30;27
who have significant ties
to the political universe.

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They have ties to legislators,
they have ties to ties to major funders.

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And they're spending millions of dollars
coming out against libraries, or at least

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they're raising millions of dollars
coming out against libraries.

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And that's just month for Liberty.

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There's dozens of small splinter groups.

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There are larger groups like the Heritage
Foundation, Hillsdale College.

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PRAGER You

00;10;55;10 - 00;10;58;16
you know, all of these organizations
that are spending

00;10;59;09 - 00;11;03;18
I mean, they're outspending us
probably 1000 to 1 to push on this
00;11;03;29 - 00;11;07;03
narrative that we're indoctrinating
or grooming children,

00;11;08;01 - 00;11;11;01
which is which is absolutely wild to me
and the public.

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The public isn't falling for it

00;11;15;02 - 00;11;18;02
as much as it sounds like,
which is kind of the high point.

00;11;19;00 - 00;11;21;09
We were just looking at some data
from Florida

00;11;21;09 - 00;11;25;22
where parents are given the opportunity
to opt out in a number of districts,

00;11;25;22 - 00;11;29;24
to opt their students out of library books
and reading materials,

00;11;30;09 - 00;11;34;05
and less than 1% of parents
of their children now. Wow.

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And so we're being held hostage
in this country by an ideal ideology.

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That only point,
I think the highest one was 0.46%.

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So, you know, 99.5, 6% of

00;11;46;28 - 00;11;49;21
parents aren't in favor of book banning.

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And yet those are the people
that 0.46% of the people

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that we're being held hostage by. Yeah.

00;11;56;09 - 00;11;58;00
Who are restricting books.

00;11;58;00 - 00;12;01;12
And the big thing is, if this was

00;12;01;29 - 00;12;05;21
what we're seeing, what we saw
from the progressive side of book banning,

00;12;05;21 - 00;12;07;29
because there have, of course,
been the progressive book bands.

00;12;07;29 - 00;12;10;26
You know, we've seen books
that have been attempted

00;12;11;06 - 00;12;15;08
to be banned by progressives
because they have the N word in
00;12;15;23 - 00;12;18;27
Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a mockingbird,
those kinds of things.

00;12;19;10 - 00;12;21;22
But those were very unserious.

00;12;21;22 - 00;12;24;22
They were they were not well organized.

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They were not well funded. The people
who were running it weren't trained.

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And it didn't

00;12;29;00 - 00;12;33;16
lead to government regulations
about the books that Americans read.

00;12;33;28 - 00;12;36;05
We didn't have to take it serious
because it wasn't serious.

00;12;36;22 - 00;12;39;29
And they're using that justification
that some books have been banned

00;12;39;29 - 00;12;44;11
by progressives in order to enact
real long standing legislation

00;12;44;29 - 00;12;47;13
that ensures that Americans are restricted

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in the books that they are allowed
to access in their public libraries.

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And it's a vocal minority
that's doing that.

00;12;53;22 - 00;12;57;10
I think that's that's very,
very terrifying

00;12;59;09 - 00;13;01;03
that that this is being allowed

00;13;01;03 - 00;13;03;17
to happen, that legislators
are taking this seriously.

00;13;04;12 - 00;13;04;21
But we're

00;13;04;21 - 00;13;08;15
also what we're also finding here is that
the reason that legislators are taking it

00;13;08;15 - 00;13;12;16
so seriously
is because this is a huge fundraising boon

00;13;12;23 - 00;13;15;06
to to so many legislators.

00;13;15;06 - 00;13;21;02
You know, if only 1% of Americans
are believed that books should be banned

00;13;22;03 - 00;13;24;25
and they each give $10, that's over three.

00;13;25;02 - 00;13;27;26
That's over. That's over.

00;13;28;00 - 00;13;31;26
What does that $30 million and and funding

00;13;31;26 - 00;13;35;26
that they've been able to raise,
that's real political money.

00;13;36;07 - 00;13;38;26
So why would they give up

00;13;39;03 - 00;13;41;28
this whole book banning thing,
even though the public sentiment

00;13;41;28 - 00;13;45;13
is turning against them when it's driving
so many of the activities

00;13;45;13 - 00;13;48;10
that they're doing through that,
through those donations?

00;13;49;02 - 00;13;52;02
Well, that's one of the things
that I tried to express as well, too,

00;13;52;02 - 00;13;55;15
because as you mentioned, it's
a very small minority of individuals

00;13;55;15 - 00;13;58;10
who are against
00;14;00;02 - 00;14;01;13
what types of

00;14;01;13 - 00;14;07;12
materials, primarily LGBTQ plus and and
and other types of materials in libraries,

00;14;07;12 - 00;14;12;13
collections and in and accusing
library staff of grooming their children.

00;14;12;25 - 00;14;15;13
If there is a overwhelming majority

00;14;16;19 - 00;14;19;02
that do not want to limit
the types of materials

00;14;19;02 - 00;14;22;07
and what their children have access
to that let's hear those voices.

00;14;22;07 - 00;14;25;16
And that's where I would say, like,
you know, don't don't wait till it's

00;14;25;16 - 00;14;28;21
too late to express your support

00;14;29;13 - 00;14;32;20
for libraries
having open and accessible collections.

00;14;32;20 - 00;14;35;24
Don't wait til there's a there's a ban.
00;14;35;24 - 00;14;38;24
And in an attempt to pull these materials
or the materials have been pulled

00;14;38;24 - 00;14;42;00
from the shelves,
like be active on the other side

00;14;42;09 - 00;14;47;19
and advocate for First Amendment access
to library materials.

00;14;48;02 - 00;14;52;23
Yeah, you know, and I think
the other thing to remember here is that

00;14;53;22 - 00;14;55;18
the book banners are holding up

00;14;55;18 - 00;14;58;12
3 to 5 books that they dislike,

00;14;58;12 - 00;15;00;22
and they're using those books to validate

00;15;02;09 - 00;15;04;27
the banning of over or depending on

00;15;04;27 - 00;15;08;07
who is running the measurement
between 1216 hundred books

00;15;09;24 - 00;15;12;12
on the basis that we're indoctrinating
and grooming children

00;15;13;10 - 00;15;16;05
for leftist ideals or whatever.

00;15;16;05 - 00;15;19;28
But that's less than 1% of all books
of a library's collection.

00;15;20;16 - 00;15;22;28
In a lot of cases,
the library doesn't even carry those books

00;15;22;28 - 00;15;26;01
like we saw in Bonners Ferry in Idaho.

00;15;26;26 - 00;15;30;02
The library doesn't even carry
the 400 books that they're screaming

00;15;30;02 - 00;15;30;27
at the library about.

00;15;30;27 - 00;15;33;13
They don't even have them.

00;15;33;26 - 00;15;36;07
And I think that's really concerning.

00;15;36;07 - 00;15;39;10
And look, if libraries were indoctrinating
children, the books

00;15;39;10 - 00;15;43;15
that were being used to indoctrinate them
would be more than 1% of the collection.

00;15;43;25 - 00;15;46;05
You know, like
you can't nobody's indoctrinate.
00;15;46;06 - 00;15;47;00
There's there's

00;15;47;00 - 00;15;51;04
1% of every libraries collection
in the world that I could find offensive.

00;15;51;04 - 00;15;54;14
And me, myself,
I would restrict access to them.

00;15;55;00 - 00;15;58;05
But I think we can all find 1% of books
in libraries

00;15;58;05 - 00;16;02;14
that we find distasteful around
pleasing or not for our family.

00;16;02;14 - 00;16;06;13
And to use that as a basis to shut down
an entire library, to deny access

00;16;06;13 - 00;16;09;03
to all of the books in the library
is absolutely preposterous.

00;16;09;16 - 00;16;11;05
Right. I wholeheartedly agree.

00;16;11;05 - 00;16;14;09
And I know, as you mentioned,
the majority of individuals do.

00;16;14;10 - 00;16;18;09
So if someone is a library advocate
and a library user

00;16;18;09 - 00;16;21;21
and they want to show their support
to their local library and also libraries

00;16;21;21 - 00;16;24;22
across their home state,
across the country, what can they do

00;16;24;29 - 00;16;28;28
to become a library advocate
or to get out?

00;16;29;03 - 00;16;33;05
There's there's so many things and
it depends on people's political acumen.

00;16;33;05 - 00;16;35;14
It depends on what they want to do.

00;16;35;14 - 00;16;41;03
My biggest suggestion
is to run for school board

00;16;41;05 - 00;16;44;01
and run for library board
or become appointed to those

00;16;44;07 - 00;16;46;16
in your community
that goes by appointment.

00;16;48;03 - 00;16;50;17
I think those
are those are some of the biggest things.
00;16;50;17 - 00;16;54;10
You know, we just saw in telecom,
a far right telecom company

00;16;55;11 - 00;16;58;21
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to

00;16;59;25 - 00;17;04;07
have their school board members
elected in Texas on the basis

00;17;04;07 - 00;17;08;22
that they could restrict the materials
in those in those schools.

00;17;08;22 - 00;17;10;13
And if we don't have good people

00;17;10;13 - 00;17;14;00
turning out to run for office,
they will only have bad people in office,

00;17;14;22 - 00;17;19;02
will only have people who want
to deny Americans their rights in office.

00;17;19;04 - 00;17;22;06
And so I would love to see more people
running for office.

00;17;22;06 - 00;17;24;19
I would love to, of course,
see more librarians running for office.

00;17;25;02 - 00;17;26;24
I know our schedules are very busy
00;17;26;24 - 00;17;29;09
in our libraries,
especially that's going on, you know,

00;17;30;24 - 00;17;32;26
but I think that
would be very high impact.

00;17;34;02 - 00;17;35;24
I also think that it's really important

00;17;35;24 - 00;17;39;14
to contact your representatives
if you go to action.

00;17;39;20 - 00;17;42;10
Every library board there are

00;17;44;18 - 00;17;46;19
petitions that you can sign

00;17;46;19 - 00;17;49;11
that to send an email
to your state legislators.

00;17;50;04 - 00;17;52;29
You know, if you go to save school
librarians, there's once

00;17;53;08 - 00;17;55;22
there's petitions there
for the school library book banning.

00;17;56;15 - 00;17;57;28
So I highly recommend those.

00;17;57;28 - 00;17;59;29
Of course, donations are always great.

00;18;01;11 - 00;18;04;28
Large donations are really key
to a lot of this.

00;18;04;28 - 00;18;08;15
And I hate I hate coming on
and always talking about fundraising,

00;18;08;15 - 00;18;10;18
but it is really the key aspect to this.

00;18;11;21 - 00;18;15;24
You know, we are facing people
with immense political power, influence,

00;18;16;06 - 00;18;18;16
and the only way you get political power
and influence

00;18;18;16 - 00;18;21;12
in this country
or most others is through people or money.

00;18;21;16 - 00;18;24;22
If you don't have one of those two things
you don't have political power

00;18;24;22 - 00;18;29;03
or influence in the library industry
as a whole, does not have

00;18;30;08 - 00;18;31;05
a national

00;18;31;05 - 00;18;34;04
database of supporters
that they can call on to

00;18;35;07 - 00;18;37;12
push back against these book bans.

00;18;37;12 - 00;18;39;25
Nor do we have millions
and millions of dollars

00;18;40;14 - 00;18;42;17
to push back against these programs.

00;18;42;17 - 00;18;45;23
And without one of those two things,
I don't see a path towards winning.

00;18;46;10 - 00;18;48;28
So I'm going to say
donate to every library.

00;18;49;01 - 00;18;50;09
Of course,

00;18;51;11 - 00;18;53;23
there's there's organizations
like the Florida Freedom

00;18;53;23 - 00;18;57;10
to Read Project,
the Freedom to Read Project in Texas

00;18;59;09 - 00;19;01;24
that that need funding and need support.

00;19;02;26 - 00;19;05;25
If you would like to start
00;19;05;25 - 00;19;09;05
an anti book
banning campaign for your community,

00;19;09;05 - 00;19;12;07
every library can provide you
with pro-bono support to do that.

00;19;12;18 - 00;19;15;03
We can provide you with tools, data,

00;19;15;23 - 00;19;17;22
access to

00;19;18;11 - 00;19;20;08
political operatives, basically

00;19;20;08 - 00;19;23;20
give you access to everything
that these book

00;19;23;20 - 00;19;26;25
banning groups are providing access
to for their small communities.

00;19;26;25 - 00;19;30;21
You know, these are national organization
chains descending onto small towns,

00;19;31;10 - 00;19;32;24
disrupting those small towns,

00;19;34;15 - 00;19;36;19
utilizing
the full force of their resources.
00;19;36;19 - 00;19;38;02
And we would like to help local

00;19;38;02 - 00;19;41;13
community members push back themselves
in a lot of the same ways.

00;19;42;15 - 00;19;44;04
And I'll just for our listeners,

00;19;44;04 - 00;19;48;08
we will have a link to every library's
website where you can get more involved

00;19;48;08 - 00;19;51;04
and get more information
on every library as well too.

00;19;51;26 - 00;19;54;12
Patrick I know it's really hard
to predict the future,

00;19;55;19 - 00;19;59;04
but what advice do you have for libraries
that are planning

00;19;59;08 - 00;20;02;13
future challenges or dealing
with challenges in their communities?

00;20;03;02 - 00;20;06;12
So that OCLC report found that

00;20;06;24 - 00;20;09;17
library
support is not based on library use.
00;20;09;17 - 00;20;12;11
Library support is not based on whether
or not somebody has a library card.

00;20;12;23 - 00;20;16;03
They've found that
the one thing that impacts peoples

00;20;17;04 - 00;20;19;17
desire to take action
on behalf of the library

00;20;19;17 - 00;20;23;11
is the single biggest motivating factor
for people to take positive

00;20;24;22 - 00;20;26;02
action on behalf of

00;20;26;02 - 00;20;28;19
their libraries is their belief in their

00;20;28;29 - 00;20;32;05
their belief about and their relationship
to their public librarian.

00;20;32;25 - 00;20;35;21
And when I say librarians, too,
I mean everybody in the library,

00;20;35;21 - 00;20;37;18
everybody that the public believes
is the librarian.

00;20;37;18 - 00;20;39;20
So everybody from page to director
to friends
00;20;39;20 - 00;20;41;24
group to the guy that lives next door
to the library, you know,

00;20;41;24 - 00;20;42;29
everybody verify that.

00;20;42;29 - 00;20;44;23
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

00;20;44;23 - 00;20;48;14
And in the public's
belief and relationship to those people

00;20;48;14 - 00;20;53;15
working in that library is what's going
to motivate people to take action.

00;20;53;15 - 00;20;57;19
So go out to your community groups,
go out and meet people,

00;20;57;19 - 00;21;02;01
send your friends, group members out
to just speak, shake hands, kiss babies.

00;21;02;01 - 00;21;06;04
You know, if 98% of library
funding is political in nature

00;21;06;04 - 00;21;09;10
and the number one thing that motivates
people to take out to go out

00;21;09;10 - 00;21;12;19
and take positive political action
on behalf is our relationship

00;21;12;19 - 00;21;15;11
and belief about our librarians
and whether or not we like it.

00;21;15;28 - 00;21;18;11
Librarians are candidates
for our jobs, right?

00;21;18;12 - 00;21;21;04
Because that funding
is what ensures that we have our jobs.

00;21;21;17 - 00;21;24;05
So I know librarians
sign up to be political candidates.

00;21;24;05 - 00;21;27;27
I know we didn't sign up to you political,
but that's you know, you're finding out

00;21;27;27 - 00;21;30;03
now because they should have taught you
this in library school,

00;21;31;01 - 00;21;34;22
but go out and behave as a candidate,
make as many friends

00;21;34;22 - 00;21;38;23
as you can talk to as many people
as you can, shake as many people's hands

00;21;38;23 - 00;21;43;03
as you can, build those relationships
and years and years before we need them.
00;21;43;03 - 00;21;47;19
Because the the biggest thing
that we see in the data turning people out

00;21;47;19 - 00;21;52;08
against government
organizations is simply their mistrust

00;21;52;08 - 00;21;53;20
and lack of communication,

00;21;53;20 - 00;21;55;21
lack of understanding
with those government organizations.

00;21;56;17 - 00;22;01;27
Every time we've had a library
and library director or a library doing

00;22;01;27 - 00;22;05;23
a very good job with public outreach,
we don't see these kinds of attacks.

00;22;05;23 - 00;22;07;08
We see them winning campaigns.

00;22;07;08 - 00;22;08;27
We see them winning elections.

00;22;08;27 - 00;22;12;28
We see them being well-funded
over and over and over again.

00;22;13;00 - 00;22;15;18
That is the hard work
of funding our libraries.
00;22;15;18 - 00;22;16;11
You know,

00;22;16;17 - 00;22;19;00
if it means that you have to make
that hard decision

00;22;19;00 - 00;22;22;16
of, you know, maybe we have one last story
time a week this year

00;22;22;23 - 00;22;27;09
so that we can go to one new community
event every week this year,

00;22;27;18 - 00;22;29;26
so that next year we can
we can have you know,

00;22;30;04 - 00;22;32;16
we'll have the funding
for three more storytimes a year.

00;22;32;27 - 00;22;34;13
Maybe that's a decision you make.

00;22;34;13 - 00;22;36;21
You know, maybe we we cut back on

00;22;38;27 - 00;22;39;29
some of the things that we're paying

00;22;39;29 - 00;22;43;15
for to give us the resources
to ensure that we can pay for more later.
00;22;43;27 - 00;22;46;22
I mean, that's that's going to be
a difficult decision for a lot of people.

00;22;46;22 - 00;22;49;19
That's going to be a hard pill to swallow.

00;22;50;02 - 00;22;53;14
But honestly, we need to rethink the way

00;22;53;14 - 00;22;56;25
that we are budgeting and allocating
our staff time and resources

00;22;57;06 - 00;23;00;19
for the future success
of our organizations.

00;23;01;18 - 00;23;06;13
I wholeheartedly agree and the advocacy
and even meeting with elected officials.

00;23;06;13 - 00;23;08;28
And I think one of the things that

00;23;09;08 - 00;23;11;09
we are lucky to have

00;23;11;09 - 00;23;15;02
and in the state of Michigan is kind
of bipartisan support for libraries.

00;23;15;02 - 00;23;19;08
And so it is not kind of one party
or the other supporting libraries.

00;23;19;08 - 00;23;20;21
We have strong advocates

00;23;20;21 - 00;23;24;19
and Republican Party and strong advocates
in the Democratic Party as well, too.

00;23;24;22 - 00;23;29;01
So I think it's very important to
to meet with those elected officials

00;23;29;01 - 00;23;31;18
and tell your story about the library
as well, too.

00;23;31;19 - 00;23;32;01
Yeah.

00;23;32;17 - 00;23;38;01
Well, I mean, that
also kind of I think, brings up

00;23;39;15 - 00;23;41;15
an interesting point.

00;23;41;15 - 00;23;44;29
Libraries aren't a partizan issue.

00;23;45;17 - 00;23;48;09
You see support from the right
and the left of politics all the time.

00;23;48;25 - 00;23;53;14
And what and and the thing that influences
that is the language that we use

00;23;53;14 - 00;23;58;13
to describe our work, know
we're reaching a Tower of Babel moment

00;23;58;13 - 00;23;59;14
in American society

00;23;59;14 - 00;23;59;28
where the right

00;23;59;28 - 00;24;01;11
but can't even talk to each other

00;24;01;11 - 00;24;03;16
because they're not even speaking
the same language anymore.

00;24;04;01 - 00;24;06;10
I think that is very terrifying.

00;24;06;10 - 00;24;07;25
But when you look at the library

00;24;07;25 - 00;24;11;22
industry, 78% of librarians are registered
on the progressive side of politics.

00;24;12;02 - 00;24;14;09
And what that means
is that we've created a progressive

00;24;16;12 - 00;24;18;20
a progressive language around libraries,

00;24;19;00 - 00;24;23;10
even though libraries are fundamentally
very conservative organizations,

00;24;23;10 - 00;24;27;01
you know, that we're very even Christian
oriented organizations

00;24;27;01 - 00;24;30;00
like we hear all this old libraries
don't have Bibles, they hate Christianity.

00;24;30;11 - 00;24;33;14
But when you look at the Dewey
Decimal System, the system that classifies

00;24;33;26 - 00;24;37;16
all knowledge in human history, 10%
or nearly

00;24;37;16 - 00;24;41;09
10% of it
is dedicated to just Christianity.

00;24;41;19 - 00;24;43;23
Only 1% of it is dedicated

00;24;44;01 - 00;24;48;17
to all the other 4000 religions
that have existed on the planet. 1%,

00;24;49;17 - 00;24;50;02
you know,

00;24;50;02 - 00;24;53;02
if we're if we're indoctrinating
anything is

00;24;53;02 - 00;24;55;23
Christianity know

00;24;56;09 - 00;25;00;15
we were we're we're etched into

00;25;00;15 - 00;25;04;06
the bedrock of American society
by our founding fathers.

00;25;04;16 - 00;25;07;06
We are a long standing institution.

00;25;07;27 - 00;25;13;10
We are hand out a hand up,
not a handout organization.

00;25;13;20 - 00;25;15;26
But the way we talk about
it is a lot of handouts.

00;25;15;26 - 00;25;19;09
Like the big example that always has have
is if my

00;25;19;14 - 00;25;22;15
if I tell my dad,
I'm not going to ask who we voted for.

00;25;22;15 - 00;25;26;25
X I'm pretty sure I know,
but if I ask my dad or if I tell my dad,

00;25;27;10 - 00;25;30;24
you know, we are helping connect
poor people to government services.

00;25;30;24 - 00;25;32;19
He will go ballistic. Right.

00;25;32;19 - 00;25;35;23
But if I tell my dad that I'm helping
poor people pull themselves up

00;25;35;23 - 00;25;38;20
by their bootstraps
and get back to work, he's all on board.

00;25;38;23 - 00;25;39;15
Yeah.

00;25;39;15 - 00;25;43;00
Either way, I'm doing
the exact same work in my library.

00;25;43;08 - 00;25;44;20
That doesn't change my values.

00;25;44;20 - 00;25;46;07
That doesn't change
the value of the libraries.

00;25;46;07 - 00;25;48;14
That doesn't change my day to day
work in the library.

00;25;48;14 - 00;25;51;27
It just changes the language that I'm
using to describe my work in the library.

00;25;52;19 - 00;25;56;10
And I think we really need to get serious
about understanding how to talk

00;25;56;16 - 00;26;01;00
about libraries in language
that crosses the political spectrum.
00;26;01;12 - 00;26;05;27
I wholeheartedly agree and Patrick,
we talked about some pretty heavy topics

00;26;05;27 - 00;26;06;05
here.

00;26;06;05 - 00;26;09;17
And although your recommendations
might be heavy or they might be light,

00;26;09;25 - 00;26;11;22
we always end
with a library type question.

00;26;11;22 - 00;26;15;26
And so do you have any titles
that you're reading, you're watching

00;26;15;26 - 00;26;17;11
or you're listening to that
you would recommend?

00;26;17;11 - 00;26;19;22
So these can be recreational. Reads,
they can work.

00;26;19;22 - 00;26;20;26
Related reads.

00;26;20;26 - 00;26;23;26
Anything that you do to say
unwind after work.

00;26;23;26 - 00;26;28;14
So, you know,
00;26;28;17 - 00;26;32;17
what I do is I watch Gardener's
World with Monty, Don, John, love it. Yes,

00;26;34;20 - 00;26;36;08
I'm a big gardener, but

00;26;36;08 - 00;26;39;20
I mean, I haven't

00;26;39;20 - 00;26;42;10
read for fun in so long,

00;26;43;24 - 00;26;45;24
possibly telling you.

00;26;45;24 - 00;26;48;25
Unfortunately.

00;26;48;25 - 00;26;49;13
Yeah.

00;26;49;13 - 00;26;52;29
My favorite book that I'll tell you
is don't tell my my work in the oil wells.

00;26;52;29 - 00;26;56;20
(Don’t Tell My Mom I Work On the Oil Rigs)
It's really funny book

00;26;56;21 - 00;27;00;24
so if you're looking for a very light
funny book, I recommend that.

00;27;01;22 - 00;27;03;14
It's great, great recommendations.
00;27;03;14 - 00;27;07;27
So Patrick, thank you again
so much for joining us for CADL Cast,

00;27;07;27 - 00;27;11;20
it was it was a wonderful discussion
and also hopefully eye

00;27;11;20 - 00;27;17;04
opening for our listeners as well
to kind of libraries are very complex

00;27;17;04 - 00;27;20;26
institutes and I think we're kind of
viewed very simple on the front of it.

00;27;20;26 - 00;27;22;14
But once you kind of look at our funding,

00;27;22;14 - 00;27;25;21
look at our makeup and look at kind
of the current political climate

00;27;25;21 - 00;27;28;21
that we're dealing with, it's very complex
issues that we're dealing with.

00;27;29;00 - 00;27;29;27
Absolutely.

00;27;29;27 - 00;27;34;05
And this episode with Patrick
from the political director

00;27;34;05 - 00;27;38;02
of Every Library
is a special two part podcast
00;27;38;08 - 00;27;42;07
where we also had another episode
with the board president from Patmos

00;27;42;07 - 00;27;44;04
Library
on the west side of State, Michigan.

00;27;44;04 - 00;27;44;17
Larry Walton

00;27;44;17 - 00;27;47;12
And so I encourage you to listen
to not only this episode,

00;27;47;12 - 00;27;51;02
but that other episode as well
too, and hear their story about the,

00;27;51;12 - 00;27;54;24
the issues that they're going through
trying to get their library millage

00;27;54;26 - 00;27;55;06
renewed.

00;27;55;06 - 00;27;57;29
As always, thank you so much for listening
to the CADL Cast.

00;27;58;11 - 00;28;00;06
Don't miss another great interview.

00;28;00;06 - 00;28;03;01
Subscribe to the CADL Cast podcast
and share it
00;28;03;01 - 00;28;06;13
with a friend.

00;28;06;13 - 00;28;07;17
Hey, it's TV in the morning

00;28;07;17 - 00;28;11;18
with a weekly download from Capital Area
District Libraries.

00;28;11;22 - 00;28;15;04
This week's title is One Life by Megan
Rapinoe.

00;28;15;04 - 00;28;15;17
The U.S.

00;28;15;17 - 00;28;19;21
Women's National Soccer Team, forward
Olympian and social justice activist

00;28;19;26 - 00;28;24;14
presents her story from childhood to pro
soccer to the fallout from supporting

00;28;24;14 - 00;28;27;04
Colin Kaepernick
and the fight for equal pay.

00;28;27;14 - 00;28;33;01
To stream or download this or other featured titles, just visit the cadl.org/dede

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stats 90 to 1

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on an on.