Supervisor Hudgins is hosting an important meeting tonight (see details below) on the future of our County Library system, including the proposed “Beta Plan” that would reduce staff and lower the professional requirements for librarians. RCA passed a resolution in August opposing the Beta Plan; RCA President Colin Mills wrote a post explaining why we think the plan is a bad idea for our libraries’ future. (Earlier this week, a group of librarians wrote an open letter summarizing the lessons learned from the library debate so far.)
This meeting is a crucial opportunity for we, the citizens, to speak up in support of our libraries and prevent these drastic cuts from happening. As we pointed out in our resolution, library spending as a share of the County’s budget has dropped by a third since 2007. Restoring library funding is a key step to averting the cuts in the Beta Plan. The Board of Supervisors needs to hear how important the libraries are to us, so that they’ll give our library system the support it needs. A big turnout and a full-throated defense of our libraries will show Supervisor Hudgins how important this issue is to us. Hope to see you tonight!
Below is information about the meeting provided by the Supervisor’s office:
Supervisor Hudgins will host a Community Meeting on the Library reorganization plans on Wednesday, October 30, 7 p.m., at Hunters Woods Elementary School for Arts and Science, 2401 Colts Neck Road, Reston. Reston Regional Library is ground zero for the library’s proposed Beta Plan that reorganized library services and staff. At this meeting, you can learn about the proposed plan and add your comments and voice to the discussion on the future direction of the library. The Library Board of Trustees members will attend and take your input and comments from this and other community meetings, back to the Board of Trustees for consideration.
Click here for information and background on the Fairfax County Public Library reorganization proposal.