Libraries across the country are responding to double digit increases in circulation and visits.  Library users are requesting everything from resume writing, improving job skills, filing for unemployment insurance, getting health insurance or heating oil assistance, to starting a home-based business.

Many librarians, as well as the public,  have trouble navigating government web sites to find specific departments that will answer a patron’s question.  Maine State Library reference librarians have familiarity with Maine state government and decided to put that to good use.  The  State Library created its new web feature Maine Answers Tough Times to provide libraries and individuals with a one-stop-shopping resource for state government and non-profit agencies that provide assistance to those effected by the economic collapse.  The State Library is also including a form on each page of Maine Answers Tough Times  for suggestions of other links that people have found helpful or for help with topics that the State Library has not addressed.

This is not the first time in my life that libraries have mobilized to help the communities they serve.  It is also not the first time that they’ve been asked to do much while having their budgets cut.  A recent Boston Globe (March 2009, but can’t remember the date) quoted a library director saying “if we were a business we’d be booming.”  Um….exactly.  A library is somewhat like a business and if any business you knew was as productive as most libraries in this country, would you reduce its funding?

Oh, sure, I know all about spreading the financial pain and sharing the financial burdens of municipal governments.  Although libraries may not be as important as food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, or job agencies, they should be viewed as essential as these social services at this time.