John Potter
Channel 2 News
Outside the Northwest Reno Library, Eric Arias holds a Golf Digest magazine. He has to bring his own…they no longer carry it inside. As he told us, "There's really nothing here, unless you're interested in PC World, or Aquariums."
Eric thought his branch opened at 10:00, but recently they cut back to 11:00…another reminder of the library budget crunch. That was another gripe of Eric's…"This is one of the nicer libraries in town and it's closed for 3 days a week."
Inside, his Golf Digest is just one of many magazines…gone AWOL. The northwest branch is a library with less to read…that's the ironic situation in periodicals. As the library's operations director Shelley Brant told us, "We're down to one car magazine, one travel magazine, and 2 or 3 cooking magazines where we used to have 10."
In the newspaper section, you'll notice the biggest names are nowhere to be found. Instead, an unusual obituary list of papers no longer stocked: USA Today…Washington Post…Sacramento Bee…the L.A. Times…all the Tahoe newspapers, all adding to a big void. At the Northwest Reno Library alone, 150 periodicals have been cancelled in the past 4 years.
Things seem to be going in reverse at our local libraries. They've always been built on the concept of having a lot of things to read, but too many shelves are bare. Right now the Northwest Reno Library could even lose the San Francisco Chronicle. Library assistant Judy Hansen tries to keep the shelves looking full. As she told us, "We spread the newspapers out to make it look like we still have some, but we're getting pretty low on the newspapers."
There's nothing they can do about the cutbacks, but they do have a plan to restock these shelves. It's called "Adopt A Periodical" and it's going on now at all Washoe County Library branches. Donating a periodical is easy. You just ask for the list at your neighborhood library and write a check for the subscription. Your magazine or newspaper will return or stay on the shelves, and your donation is tax deductible. As Shelley described it, "You walk in, look at the shelves, pick a periodical, go to the desk and tell the staff that you want to adopt that periodical."
The idea is to get our book houses through their long dry spell. Without donations, $3,500 more in subscriptions will be cut, taking magazines like Camping Life…Consumer Reports...Entertainment Weekly and dozens of others off the shelves. "Adopt A Periodical," their latest call for help. As Shelley told us, "Libraries are so important to a culture and society, and we hope people remember that when it's time to talk to the county commissioners."
