Four: Librarians Want to Support Local and Independent Media

Librarians see an opportunity to use their budgets to support local/independent media. Library administrators do not.

Some librarians feel an ethical responsibility to use their collection development budgets to support independent/nonprofit journalists who have been squeezed by the collapse of their industry. While this can’t happen at scale, it’s a justification for libraries to subscribe to content that may be freely available upon initial publication.

Library admin and collection development don’t often see a reason to subscribe to sources that produce freely available content.

• How can we make the case that libraries have a role to play as sustainable funders for high quality local information?
• As Library Futures calls for public libraries to divest from platforms like Hoopla—which are dramatically increasing public library budgets and not providing corresponding value for communities—they should simultaneously call for library investment in local alternative digital media.
• When THE CITY partnered with Brooklyn Public Library on its Open Newsroom program, the library allocated funding for part-time staff to support the project, which directly led to several ongoing newsletter products. While these weren’t collection development funds, the example shows that some libraries are willing to financially support local news, especially when their patrons are directly benefiting.
• While financially supporting local newsrooms with their collection budgets would certainly be welcome, libraries shouldn’t let their inability to do so stop them from seeking partnership with nonprofit newsrooms. For these newsrooms, the ability to reach more of the public is a benefit in and of itself. They know that their work will never be self-funding, they’ll always need philanthropic support. These partnerships might help them make the case for that support.

“Something that frustrates me here, it’s, I guess, a bit of an irony. I know a lot of these newspapers, the nonprofits, they’re starting to use Creative Common licenses, which I love, and I think it’s so great…. Our attitude here at the library is, if it’s open access, creative commons, why are we paying for it?”

– Academic Librarian

“I think nonprofits should address market failures, and should be pro-public. We just shouldn’t run as businesses.…Nonprofits are a kind of moral ethical response to rampant commercialism, and I don’t think they should be around to sustain their bottom line. They should be around to address societal problems…We have to fund the stuff, but not on the backs of people who are least equipped and resourced to have it.”

– Darryl Holliday on why nonprofit newsrooms shouldn’t let financial concerns stop them from working with libraries to distribute their content publicly.