It’s FRL that may be limiting library funding
Let's be clear. No one is “attacking” libraries because we all support the basic function of a true library which Webster's Dictionary defines as “a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (such as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale.” To spread disinformation that people are “attacking” the library we love is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I think some people are just mad that the light has been shined under the bed at the problems.
Counties leaving regional library systems is nothing new because counties are better equipped to manage their money and affairs under the county umbrella instead of a third-party bureaucracy. Regional agreements are dissolved all the time as circumstances change. Maybe the Fontana Regional Library (FRL) made sense in the 1940s, but all three counties have progressed beyond the need to be operated by a polarizing third-party that does not put an individual county's needs first. Why are some people afraid of positive change? Those who want to stay in the past seem full of anger instead of moving forward with a successful county library.
Here are what other N.C. counties who have left their regional library systems have said:
On dissolving the EARL library system in Eastern N.C., leaders said the change would allow county libraries to be more responsive to their respective counties and allow the counties to join a state circulation system, providing access to millions of titles. Times have changed, and the respective counties now have the resources to run their own systems. As state aid to EARL has declined in relative terms since the early 2000s, the counties have taken on more responsibilities, and the change is welcome. The EARL director even supported dissolving the association she was leading!
When EARL dissolved, the counties planned to join the N.C. Cardinal program. Jackson County will join N.C. Cardinal with no loss of access to resources across the state. Nothing with access would change despite the lies that are being stoked by outdated FRL.
A library leader in the EARL system had this to say: “Our patrons won’t notice any difference except for more access.” Did you catch that?! More access.
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The N.C. Cardinal program can be joined by any county library. Furthermore, Jackson County will receive the state and federal funds directly instead of those funds being laundered through an antiquated bureaucracy that has become increasingly difficult to manage.
With Jackson County leaving the Fontana Regional Library, we will qualify for grants and funding that were not available to regional library systems and only meant for county libraries, so don’t believe the falsehoods that Jackson County will lose funding. It is the FRL who is violating the President’s executive order “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” and jeopardizing our federal funding. By refusing to change course with divisive DEI measures, the FRL itself is limiting our funding. That behavior is not acceptable.
(Regan Flemming lives in Cashiers.)
