Re: Floridas Staatsbibliothek und Staatsarchiv

["Klaus Graf" <klaus.graf _at__ geschichte.uni-freiburg.de>]

On Wed, 11 Jun 2003 01:06:47 +0200
 "Klaus Graf" <klaus.graf _at__ geschichte.uni-freiburg.de>
wrote:
> Hier, aber auch in Netbib (sowie in ARCHIVALIA)war vor
> einiger Zeit etwas zur bedrohlichen Lage der
> Staatsbibliothek in Florida zu lesen. Nicht besonders
> aktuell informiert ist ein Artikel in SPIEGEL ONLINE, der
> ganz am Rande auf diese Vorgaenge eingeht, siehe
> http://archiv.twoday.net/stories/34472/
> 
> Fuer die folgende ausfuehrliche Richtigstellung bin ich
> Jim
> Schnur sehr dankbar!

Ergaenzend dazu:

Here is additional information to clarify the statement
mentioning the
  "900.000 items in the garbage" that has appeared in some
sources.

  In late 2002, Florida Governor Jeb Bush originally
planned to dismantle
  the State Library of Florida
(http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/stlib/),
  including the Florida Museum of History
  (http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/museum/mus_fax.html) that is
located in the
  basement of the building. At the same time, he and the
legislature
  proposed cutting the budget for Florida's public
universities by over
  $110 million. One of Bush's people approached nearby
Florida State
  University (http://www.fsu.edu) about taking the
collection, but FSU
  said that they could not support the collection if Bush
planned to cut
  their budget. Besides, Bush wanted them to move the
collection. Where
  would FSU keep the mastodon???
(http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/museum/)

  The 900.000 items include materials in the circulating
collection, a
  large research collection (Florida newspapers on
microfilm, city
  directories), and a substantial collection of rare,
out-of-print
  Floridiana (the Florida collection of history and
literature).

  Bush then decided to 'give' the collection to Nova
Southeastern
  University (http://www.nova.edu), a school widely
considered to be
  little more than a diploma mill by most members of the
academic
  community. It does not offer any liberal arts curriculum,
only
  professional courses (business, education, etc.). Soon
the protests
  began
  (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/05/State/Hands_around_state_li.shtml)
  (http://www.floridahistory.info/rally_in_tally.htm)
  Bush's appointees (State Librarian and others) retreated
on their
  original proposal and promised to keep the Florida
  collection(http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/stlib/flcoll.html)
in the State
  Library, but still give the "circulating collection" of
about 350.000
  books to Nova. Under the terms offered to Nova, the State
of Florida
  would 'give' the books, buy shelving for the books, and
'give' Nova
  about $5.000.000 to take the collection. Nova's
librarians were not
  required to keep any of the books, and could throw away
whatever they
  did not want. This was part of Jeb's attempts to
privatize government.

  To give you an idea of how angry we were about this plan,
imagine if
  your government planned to give the Bundesarchiv to a
private company!!!
  German archivists and librarians would be very mad.

  Although the legislature decided to preserve the State
Library
  collection, the fight is NOT over. There are rumors that
Bush is very
  angry about the uproar over the State Library situation
and plans to
  punish libraries next year. He and the legislature have
already
  punished the universities, cutting our budgets by about
$40.000.000.

  Thanks for sharing this with our colleagues in Germany
and Europe. 

  JIM