Kitty Felde
May 12, 2009
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There's a lot of whispering going on in the halls of Congress this week. More than 400 librarians from around the country are lobbying lawmakers on a range of issues. KPCC's Washington Correspondent Kitty Felde caught up with a trio of Southern California librarians.
Kitty Felde: These are busy days for librarians. The number of patrons is up. They're looking for books – and Internet access, which is free at most libraries. Jan Sanders, Pasadena's library director, says almost everyone who can't get online at home will come to the library.
Jan Sanders: And we're finding that many more businesses will only accept job applications online. And so we have many, many users who come in without the capacity to do that at home. And we need to continue to provide that.
Felde: That's one reason Sanders has been meeting with congressional staffers this week. A provision of the economic stimulus package boosts broadband capacity – something Sanders says libraries need.
Some librarians came to say "thank you" for federal dollars they've already secured. L.A. County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd is thankful for a million dollar pilot project that targets young readers. Todd says it helps members of Congress when you give them details about how federal money is spent.
Margaret Donnellan Todd: And I think you do need to give them ammunition because so many people think the libraries are empty. And they're not. As the recession is getting worse, we're getting busier and busier. And our funding locally is going to be less and less. We're getting hit very hard because we rely on property taxes. And the property tax is down.
Felde: Todd says lobbying Southern California's congressional delegation – Republicans and Democrats alike – is easy.
Todd: We're lucky because our congressmen are very supportive of libraries. I don't have to start any conversations with "No, there are still people in the libraries – and let me explain to you why they're important." All our congressmen get it. And congresswomen, I must add.
Felde: Whittier's Director of Library Services Paymaneh Mahsoudi came to say "thank you" to one particular congresswoman: Lakewood Democrat Linda Sanchez.
Paymaneh Mahsoudi: Congresswoman Sanchez provided us with seed money to start our homework center. Without that, we wouldn't be able to do that.
And that homework center has been in place for almost five years – and many, many of our students and community members have been able to use it. That's a great story, a success story.
Felde: Sanchez gave the library a quarter of a million dollars out of her congressional office discretionary fund. In return, Mahsoudi says those who use Whittier Library's homework center send something back to Sanchez.
Mahsoudi: They send cards and they send their progress reports and how wonderful the center has been for them.
Felde: The librarians' annual trip to Washington isn't only about money. It's also about legislation. The Pasadena Library's Jan Sanders says she's lobbying against a section in the Patriot Act.
Sanders: The 215 section gives the right to search business records of any kind for suspected terrorist activity or suspected suspicious activity. And that includes libraries.
And libraries, as you know, particularly public libraries, have always been strong advocates of confidentiality of records, feeling it's only an individual's right to determine what they read and give that information out. And so that's the piece that we find offensive.
Felde: Sanders says one time, authorities cited section 215 to collect information at her library. She says she sent them back for a subpoena before she complied. Sanders and other librarians want Congress to allow section 215 to expire as scheduled at the end of the year.
But the librarians had to go. There were eight more congressional offices to visit before the end of the day. More staffers to brief, more literature to hand out. Oh, and if there's time, there's a very nice library to check out across the street from the Capitol – the Library of Congress.
