On Wednesday February 23, 2005, ALA’s concerns were personally voiced in Salinas. A delegation of ALA and California Library Association (CLA) leaders and Susan Hildreth spent the day in Salinas meeting with civic officials and concerned citizens. The delegation’s goal was, according to Michael Gorman, “to consult with all interested parties and to start a process of helping through advice, information, and support.”

Susan Hildreth and CLA President Danis Kreimeier report the February visit was a resounding success. Susan Hildreth says, “We were graciously welcomed by everyone in Salinas; and the reality of national and state interest in their community boosted the widespread efforts to keep libraries alive in Salinas.”

Salinas’s dignitaries, Mayor Anna Caballero, City Manager Dave Mora, Assistant City Manager Jorge Rifa Salinas City Council members and staff, and community and business leaders, greeted the delegation with well-researched materials and a fast-paced agenda for the day.

At an early afternoon private City Hall meeting, Jorge Rifa gave the delegation an overview of Salinas’ budget history and demographics. Hildreth says that Rifa’s “devastating” numbers clarified how the budget has trapped the City’s leaders with few choices for keeping Salinas afloat.  Hildreth and the others also learned that City Manager Mora is understandably dedicated to public safety–to protecting Salinas’s police force.

At a subsequent meeting that included business leaders, Mayor Caballero, City Council members, and Rally Salinas! supporters, the delegation received an overview of the political scene in Salinas and Monterey County and participated in enthusiastic discussions of strategic planning for future initiatives.

That evening the delegation was welcomed at the meeting of the grass roots initiative Save Salinas Libraries. Kreimeier and Hildreth were heartened to see that more than 100 local activists were already organizing into task forces that will create informed public relations and fundraising plans for public support for funding the libraries.

The library leaders saw first hand February 23rd that Salinas’s library activists need help continuing to emphasize the value of libraries to the people of Salinas. Friends of the Salinas Library (FOSPL)  President Lynn Steele explains that many people in Salinas “don’t grasp that a library is more than a place to check-out books and use the Internet.” Salinas’s activists, Steele says, “must induce voters to approve another ballot measure,” but, she adds, they lack the persuasive data.

Hildreth, Gorman, and Kreimeier will be what Kreimeier calls “informational resources” to Salinas. They will not only share persuasive language and research on the sociological, economic, and educational benefits of libraries but also the names of people who can help bring about a successful tax initiative. Hildreth, for example, has provided both FOSPL’s Lynn Stark and Jorge Rifa a list of library polling specialists who can help define criteria for a new measure. “We need that polling data,” says Steele.

Meanwhile, library programs consultants at the CSL are providing consulting services and technical assistance to the Salinas libraries. The CSL is working with the city of Salinas and the library to maintain literacy programs and funding. It is also working with partners in the city to provide homework assistance.

Kreimeier points out that Salinas’s literacy program was one of the original state-funded literacy programs over 20 years ago. She says probably everyone in Salinas knows someone, a tutor or a learner, who has been touched by literacy services. If Salinas can tap into that power, Kreimeier suggests, it would “personalize” the budget crisis for the community.

Susan Hildreth is speaking to the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce on March 29. She will argue for not only the moneymaking value of libraries, but also for the library’s critical contributions to literacy and youth development that make communities strong.