Blatant Berry: Much More than Management
The public library is a high priority in Chicago government By John N. Berry III Jan 15, 2011Despite a huge city deficit, the budget of the Chicago Public Library (CPL) was increased for FY11! Few libraries in other U.S. cities have been so fortunate.
At CPL they give credit to Mayor Richard M. Daley, who, unlike many mayors of major cities, understands the high priority that library service demands, in good times and in hard times. Each alderman on the Chicago City Council represents one of 50 wards in that city of neighborhoods. There is a CPL branch in every ward, and two in many of them. Mayor Daley, LJ’s inaugural Politician of the Year (LJ 11/15/97, p. 28–30), sees each branch as a community “anchor” crucial to Chicago life. Branch use is heavy, and the local branch is often the only library a citizen uses. CPL is about to add four new branches to its current 76.
CPL’s priority represents a view of governing that is crucially different from the current view elsewhere. From Boston to Houston, TX, Charlotte, NC, to Los Angeles, America’s urban libraries have been savaged. Seen as a bottom-line, management problem by elected officials all over the nation, libraries have been subjected to arbitrary budget cuts.
It is the kind of fiscal management that says the budget of every department must be cut by an equal percentage, without any attention to the importance of that service to the populace, the number of citizens who use the service, or its impact on life in the city. [For more on library budgets, see LJ’s 2011 Budget Survey, p. 28–31.]
In New York, to choose one example, the city’s three great library systems have been devastated by repeated budget cuts, despite their already miniscule share of the city budget. Mayor Michael Bloomberg places a very low priority on the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library, three of the half dozen largest library systems in the nation.
While any mayor might agree that management tools must be used to operate great libraries, Bloomberg’s approach is simply a managerial one, subjecting libraries and all city services to the same bottom-line analysis and cookie-cutter budgeting.
When cultural institutions such as libraries are run by business managers, they are forced to adhere to the simplistic methods and measures that ignore their importance as public goods. In terms of economics, a public good is a service most efficiently provided to all people through taxation. Schools, libraries, public health, and police and fire departments are public goods. When anyone uses them, everyone benefits. It is more efficient to provide them through taxes than to levy a charge for each use. Mayor Daley has always understood the difference between public good and commercial enterprise. That was one reason he was named our Politician of the Year.
In Chicago, the mayor and city council know that governing is much more than a simple management, marketing, or cost-cutting problem. They know it is too important to be left to the basic measures of the marketplace. Of course, CPL leadership uses the tools of management and marketing, but they also are empowered to take the extra steps demanded by a city council and mayor who view libraries as crucial public resources, not just line items on a budget. Commissioner Mary Dempsey and her team know CPL is a true public good and that when any Chicagoan uses it, everyone in Chicago gains.
The United States will be a smarter, stronger nation when more elected officials follow the Chicago model and give the highest priority to their public libraries, recognizing them as the government agency that serves the needs of all the people.
| Author Information |
| John N. Berry III (jberry@mediasourceinc.com) is Editor-at-Large, LJ |
