#fund public libraries
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The Cold Hearted Amateur Economist Studying the Annual Budget ($113.4 million proposed 2023) for the Chicago Public Library to state "This Is a Stupidly Great Deal."
I am not a professional economist.
To be clear, and to start with, I do not run economic data for real world scenarios for clients or governments or any institutions.
I do run fantasy economic models for fantasy worlds (elves, dwarves, dragons, etc.) for private clients (nerds with more cash than time).
But
to be clear
I am not a real world economist.
So there will be variables I don't know/care about.
The Chicago (hi, I live in Chicago) public library proposed budget
for 2023 is
$113,400,000
(source)
Which is a lot of money, objectively speaking, when you look at it as an annual price tag of "I need $113,400,000. For, um, this year. Next year it'll be more."
In addition to being an amateur economist, as I call myself, because I deal exclusively in fantasy-world economics exclusively
I was a professional graphic designer for many years
and have dealt with charts, graphs, information displays, etc.
for a really long time
From the above source, 24.3% (about $27,556,200) is provided by grants, leaving 75.7% (about $85,843,800) to raise.
Still a big chunk of cash.
Damn near $86 million bucks.
That would buy so many zines.
Is it worth it?! LET'S GO BACK TO "I WAS A FORMER GRAPHIC DESIGNER" and dealt with charts and things, a lot, to raise cash for weird projects, a lot.
$85,843,800 (above figure to raise) divided by 365 (sorry leap year, we're being un-generous) is $235,188.49 a day.
Nearly.
A quarter.
Million dollars.
A day.
Wow.
But wait...
...there is more than one person living in Chicago.
Which means that it is NOT a daily bill to ONE person for $235,188.49. It is a daily bill for for 1/2,665,039 PEOPLE, given the city's population.
(source)
To be fair, not everyone pays taxes, for a variety of reasons.
Since I'm not a professional economist, let's be brutally unfair and guess only 1/3 of the city pays taxes. It's far more than that, but, yknow...
...amateur economist privilege.
2,665,039 x 0.33 = 879,462.87... we'll... just round... up... this isn't SAW.
FUN FACT, though! You can borrow SAW from the Chicago Public Library for $0.00!
Resuming the point!
Daily bill of $235,188.49 sent to a collective of 879,463 people whom paying taxes to fund the library using the above math.
(Folks astute in math are going to immediately get my end point that this is cheap)
$235,188.49 (daily budget) divided by 879,463 (people)
is...
$0.26742283643 or rounded up
$0.27 per day.
The Chicago Public Library costs less than $0.30 per day per tax payer to cover the entire city.
Less.
Than $0.30.
Per day.
Per tax payer.
...wow.
You can do similar math by checking your local library's budget and comparing it to your local population and being as ungenerous, or more specific if you wish to get a closer-to-accurate number, when comparing tax payers.
If you want to say "1 out of every 3 people paying taxes is too high" (it's not, but let's just say it is for the sake of furthering my point of "the library is an intensely great deal) and instead... say...
1 out of every 5 people pay taxes
because you want to be a contrarian for whatever personal reasons
1/5 = 20%, 20% of 2,665,039 people is 533,008 (rounded up, per above SAW rules)
$235,188.49 (daily budget) divided by 533,008 (people in this ultra contrarian numbers formula) is $0.44124757977, or, $0.44 per day per tax payer.
Using 1/3 as a tax payer base is extremely low. It's easier math. I chose it to make a point.
Pushing it further to 1/5 as a tax payer base raises the daily cost by ($0.44-0.27) $0.17.
Use your local library. Your literal pocket change pays for it.
This is a "I love the library" post sponsored by the library research I am doing for a private client and work that'll be used for future Netherworld Post releases.
#library#library postings#local library#library funding#i love the library#public library#public libraries
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So: a secretary of state - one person - has changed Missouri’s law so that libraries will lose government funding if a library gives a child a book a parent - any parent - doesn’t want them to read.
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I need need need to make kandi that says stuff on it like “NPR” “PBS” “I ♥️ PUBLIC LIBRARIES” “I ♥️ DATABASES”
#kandi#the point is publicly funded universally available resources are amazing#public libraries#Esrah talks
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#fund libraries not cops#defund the police fund our communities#ftp#acab#defund the police#defundthepolice#mayor adams#nyc public libraries#capitalist system#this is amerikkka
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I think attractive people with TikTok accounts should start promoting public library usage. Make that shit a trend.
#i actually have seen public library tiktok accs that were cool#b4 i deleted the app#but still. make it cool and hot and trendy for people to fund their local libraries
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A couple of weeks ago, the ACLU, plus the Missouri Library Association (disclaimer: I am a member of the MLA) and the Missouri Association of School Librarians filed a lawsuit over newly-passed SB 775, that would ban "sexually explicit materials" from schools-- defining "sexually explicit" to mean "materials that acknowledge that queer people exist."
It is already illegal in Missouri, as everywhere else in the United States, for people under the age of 18 to access pornography. Additionally, librarians, publishers, and teachers are all trained on how to evaluate and screen materials to help parents find something appropriate for their kids.
So this happened:
"Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith’s budget proposal, unveiled Tuesday, would cut all $4.5 million in state funding that libraries were slated to get next fiscal year.
"Smith said he’s upset that state and school libraries are suing to overturn a new Missouri law that bans sexually explicit material in school libraries. He said the state shouldn’t subsidize the lawsuit with funding."
Rep. Smith: the Missouri Library Association is funded with member dues. *facepalm emoji*
#Missouri libraries#libraries#school libraries#public libraries#MO SB 775#Missouri Library Association#Missouri Association of School Librarians#American Civil Liberties Union#ACLU#Cody Smith#library funding#because this brain donor thinks cutting all of $4.5 million-- million! pocket change to a government!-- will hurt the MLA#in which i rolled my eyes so hard i briefly had a very good view of the wrinkles of my brain#fascism#the incompetent version but still fascism
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this!!!
this but in a library... these make me so happy... can't explain sorry
#fund public libraries please#but for the step stools#they have to be grimy#they have to be a cool grey#the cool grey has to contrast the warm colors of the surrounding library#the spring has to squak in that one particular way when you step on it#idk this is tickling me rn#library#public library#libraries#public libraries#step stool
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Libraries are important
My Silent Gen grandparents like to write me long emails and letters about everything going on in their lives. Today my grandma sent me an email and told me about how she negotiated for a lower internet/phone bill and got free cell service for a year, and she traded in her old cell phone (I think it was a flip phone, my grandparents didn't get a cell phone until 2013 and that was because when I was visiting, the car broke down and I had a phone that we used to call AAA) for a new one (a Samsung 14G? idk, I don't think she knows either)
ANYWAY. Grandma signed up for classes at the library so she can learn to use the phone because she's afraid of doing something that makes it not-work. She goes to the library to check out books and has taken classes there before.
SO: this is a reminder that public libraries are critically important. They're social centres, they teach important community-based classes to people (esp older people), they provide resources...I could keep going.
Libraries are so much more than just Book Castles. Support your local library. Protect it from those who seek to destroy it and the treasures stored within.
#books & libraries#public libraries#support libraries#libraries are the best#book castles#FUND ALL THE LIBRARIES#stop banning books#book bans are foolish#PROTECT LIBRARIES#libraries are cool#librarians are great#i love libraries#silent gen is pre-Boomer btw#they were born during the Depression#i've learned a lot from my Depression-era-born grandparents#it's actually really nice to exchange cards/letters with them#my grandma is always telling me ways to scrimp and save. i low-key love it but my family makes fun of me for it#joke's on them#i should start a list of all the advice my grandma has given me#her aunt taught her to always keep $1000 in cash on hand and back then that was a LOT of money#you can 100% negotiate your cable/internet bill i've done that often you just have to make a phone call#so many useful tips i have to start writing them down. next post maybe.
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oh shit now i'm thinking those thoughts about how the Federation is definitely a liberal democracy even though we never see elections or the run-up to elections and nobody votes for anything ever and there's a president and some sort of coucil/cabinet(?) but seemingly no other elected representatives below that so apparently every decision is made at at least a planetary level and nobody ever writes to a minor official about the bins not being emptied last Tuesday and Jake Sisko gets a job as a journalist but there's no other indication of a free press or even an unfree press and like i know this isn't the focus and we're just supposed to accept that Obviously the Federation is a functioning democracy because they're the good guys so they must be but is it too much to ask for Harry Kim to mention in passing that it's a good thing he got that postal vote in before they left because even if he never finds out who won that election at least he knows it wasn't his fault?
#star trek (generic)#i chose harry because while i am SURE the federation allows prisoners to vote i suspect tom just wouldn't. not at that point anyway.#“But Miles -” “No Julian! I refuse to just lie back and accept that the library can't open on Tuesday afternoons due to lack of funding!”#“Why else do I pay my taxes if not for decent public services?!”#“...we pay taxes?”#“Oh so now you're a tax-dodger as well as an illegal eugenics project? Is there anything else you'd like to admit to?”#“You know on Ferenginar -” “SHUT UP QUARK”#little bit of politics
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The audiobook situation in general makes me livid. Like I said in those tags, I'm lucky because the library I work for has a relatively solid funding stream, so I can at least get a fair few of the things I want to read in audio format.
This is vital because I process books well aurally, and being able to listen to them while doing another task somewhat curbs my focus issues and helps me do both things. If I cannot get a book in audio format (or a format that I can apply TTS to, which itself is a huge pain to do and requires removal of DRM), I usually just don't read it.
Now, audiobooks are already expensive. To an extent they have to be because both the author and the voice actor need to get paid. That's understandable, really.
But then you have the hellish intersection of Audible's semi-closed ~exclusive~ ecosystem and publishers charging libraries heavily inflated prices for limited-length rights. This means that your selection, as someone who prefers or straight up needs audiobooks, is always going to be a lot more limited if you're trying to go through legal channels. I'm not even someone who has severe vision issues, just someone with focus and sometimes neurological issues that make reading print/ebooks harder than it should be. I can do it if I REALLY want to. I can only imagine what it's like if you can't read without audio.
I work in the cataloguing department, and when anyone points out to the person ordering that our digital audiobook selection is limited and there are holes in the collection, she's like- but audiobooks are expensive! And for libraries, they really, really, really are.
(When we can get a title at all. Because those Audible titles are harder to get, and because publishers can also make us wait until well after the digital title's release date to purchase a copy at all, even if we have the money and want to.)
#so like honestly#it's nice to support your libraries if you can because we get funding based on your usage of our items#but do whatever you want forever because the mainstream publication industry does NOT deserve anything from you#if you have Ways and Means you should not feel bad about using them#nightmare diary
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MILF*? oh yeah I love MILFs! give me so many MILFs!
*More Immediate Library Funds
#Libraries#idk what this even is#it just entered my brain and i had to write it down#i apologise#but on a slightly more serious it is true libraries are fucking important and like they are being closed all round where i live and it suck#so yeah#more immediate library funds#technically it should be more library funds immediately to be grammatically correct but that doesnt fit the anagram so...#Library Funds#Save Our Libraries#Public Library
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guys in light of the zlib loss, please support your local libraries because 9 times out of 10, they'll have a book you're looking for that is also free to read
#diya says#and if they don't then support them anyway bc with more support and funding they'll be able to get more books + resources#i am forever a public library enthusiast#important
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Library is closed on sundays i guess i should just die in the streets
#i swear to god if we can’t increase funding for the public library in nyc our society is gonna collapse#by society in this instance I mean me specifically but it applies to the rest of the world as well
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Source
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Romance author Nora Roberts helps save MI library defunded over LGBTQ books
Romance author Nora Roberts helps save MI library defunded over LGBTQ books
Romance author Nora Roberts helps save MI library defunded over LGBTQ books
Renowned romance novelist Nora Roberts donated $50,000 to a Michigan libraryThe Patmos Library in Jamestown Township had been defunded in a spat over LGBTQ booksOver 4,000 donors from across the country helped keep the library open
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