ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Perhaps I'm being unfair, but there are days I begin to think that the Bush spawn are dismantling a great deal of what I hold dear. This time it's Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida...

Here's the Florida Library Association's take on things...

Here's an editorial illustrating the problem. I hope Mr. Denham will forgive my posting it here, as new archives tend to change rapidly, and it give a link to a petition to appeal this plan. Unfortunately I'm posting this after the end of the petition, but you may want to look at it. This plan could seriously impact those within Florida and also those outside Florida who do genealogy and otherwise use the services of the Florida State Library. With the current oeconomy putting a strain on state budgets, please keep an eye out for what sort of cuts may be coming in your area as well. It could happen anywhere. (Here in Kentucky, we're looking at cuts in some vital services for elderly, children, and disabled. I'm unhappy about that as well.)

Gov. Bush Shows Contempt for Library
Published Friday, February 21, 2003--Lakeland Ledger
By JAMES M. DENHAM

Gov. Jeb Bush plans to shut down the state library. He plans to pack up
and scatter the library's books, microfilms, maps, government documents
and archival records accumulated since 1845 -- a move that undermines
years of careful work by professionals dedicated to preserving these
treasures for future generations.

His idea is bad for Florida and shows his total disdain for our state's
rich history.

Bush claims that Florida will save $5.4 million by cutting 55 state
jobs. He has not said how much it will cost to pack up, transfer and
house the millions of items that for so long have been professionally
managed under one roof. Nor has he stated how long this transferal will
take, or if, when or where these materials will be available to the
general public. (Bush's
original plan to ship the library's collection to FSUs Strozier Library
went nowhere.)

It is critical that the state library's priceless collection remain
intact, and that its librarians continue to provide for the orderly
acquisition, classification, organization, retrieval and preservation of
its important resources.

The state library manages archival and records services all across the
state. It also serves county library systems by coordinating the Florida
Interlibrary Loan Network. The proposed closure also threatens the
Florida Memory Project, an online database that makes available many of
the state's historical and genealogical records, tens of thousands of
photographs and manuscripts critical to an understanding of our state's
past.

This source is indispensable to educators and the state's many new
residents desiring to learn about their new home's history.

Also at risk in the bureaucratic reshuffling is the Bureau of Historic
Preservation that encourages, promotes and assists historic-preservation
activities in every community in this state. Its regional offices are to
be closed, leaving a skeleton staff in Tallahassee to do the work of
hundreds of dedicated professionals who soon may join library and
archive professionals in the ranks of the unemployed.

Bush's scheme seems based on the mistaken premise that disbanding the
state library and archives will only inconvenience a few Florida
scholars -- that it will affect so few that no one will even notice. The
threat of this move to the few remaining Florida history scholars is
real enough. But the real losers from Bush's plan will be genealogists,
children and the thousands of other Floridians who visit the R. A. Gray
building that houses the library, archives and museum collections.

Ironically, the nucleus of the state archives might have been lost in
the first place if state librarian Dorothy Dodd had not rescued the
cache of governors' papers and other precious state documents from the
trash bins when they were nearly thrown away by careless workers during
the state capital's remodeling in the 1950s.

Now, nearly 50 years of careful work by professionals who have built up
the collection is threatened by this reckless scheme. Also during that
time, citizens from across the nation have donated precious family
heirlooms such as letters, diaries and photographs so that they can
enrich the lives of future generations. These donations were always made
under the expectation that these items would be profess
ionally cared-for
and preserved. Bush's plan threatens this public trust.

Bush's plan at first glance may seem easy to pull off in a state with
so many newcomers. A newcomer himself, Bush has shown time and again an
astonishing disregard for the state's cultural heritage. But this latest
display of contempt has drawn a loud outcry from state, national and
even international sources. One might well wonder what that reaction
would be if his brother proposed abolishing the Library of Congress and
the National Archives.

It is time for thoughtful Floridians of all political persuasions to
join historical societies, genealogical groups, educators and hundreds
of others who oppose the careless dismantling of our state's historical
and cultural agencies. This ill-conceived attempt to address budget
shortfalls by attacking Florida's historical resources will do little to
address our state's revenue needs. Only careful reform of our tax
structure can do that.

Concerned citizens should voice their concerns directly to the governor
or to their state legislators. One easy way to do this is by logging on
to a Web site created by the Florida Historical Society to collect
signatures on a petition to be sent to the governor and legislature
www.floridahistory.info/statelibrary).

James M. Denham teaches Florida and other history, and directs the
Center for Florida History at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.