No, not our libraries!
I found this in the Detroit Free Press…
Article here
High court to hear one for library books
Issue: Who can borrow where in state
BY EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
November 7, 2006
Librarians throughout the state are watching closely — and worrying — as the case of a book-loving attorney from Bloomfield Hills versus the Bloomfield Township Public Library makes its way through the state Supreme Court. The justices signaled that they, too, think this is an important case.
At issue: Can some municipalities decide to invest more in their libraries, providing extra services that only local residents enjoy? Or should any citizen of the state be able to check out books from any library, from Sault Ste. Marie to Saugatuck?
The state Supreme Court heard preliminary arguments last month and could have issued a ruling based on that one-hour session.
Instead, the justices said last week they’d like to hear full arguments in the case. They have asked for new briefs from several interested parties, including the Michigan Library Association, the state attorney general, the Michigan Municipal League and the Michigan Association of Counties.
The case began when the Bloomfield Township library told George Goldstone of Bloomfield Hills that he couldn’t check out books there.
If Goldstone’s attorney prevails in his argument that the Michigan Constitution gives all residents equal access to any public library, then librarians fear that the local taxes some communities now assess to enhance their libraries will disappear — along with the special programs that the taxes fund.
“This is not just a battle over one local library,” Gretchen Couraud, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said Monday. “It could have an impact on all public libraries in the state.”
Michigan has about 385 of them, she said.
Robert Toohey, the attorney representing Goldstone, saw the latest Supreme Court utterance as an opportunity to press his arguments more forcefully.
“We now have a chance to gain some uniformity among all the libraries in Michigan as to book borrowing,” he said.
Barry Rosenbaum, the attorney representing the library, said he expects the Supreme Court to hear the case next spring at the earliest. “I’m pleased that they’re giving it full consideration,” he said.
The debate over library funding is just beginning to register with many of the 43,000 people a year who use the Bloomfield Township library.
Karen Anderson, 50, of Ortonville is one of them. She visits the library about once a week, typically after dropping off her son at Brother Rice High School.
“I think it’s kind of sad that the guy from Bloomfield Hills can’t use it,” she said. “I really enjoy this library.”
Ortonville’s library is part of a network of libraries in southeast Michigan that share services with each other’s patrons.
Bloomfield Hills doesn’t have a library and so is not part of the network. More than 200 other Michigan communities without libraries contract for book-borrowing privileges with neighboring public libraries.
Bloomfield Hills used to contract with Bloomfield Township for library services but dropped that practice several years ago when the two governments could not agree on a contract price.
For more information about the case from the perspective of the Michigan Library Association, go to http://www.mla.lib.mi.us./ Copies of the briefs and opinions related to the case are on the Bloomfield Township library Web site, http://www.btpl.org/About_Us/about_us.html.
Contact EMILIA ASKARI at 248-351-3298 or easkari@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.