First, Michigan’s Department of History, Arts, and Libraries. Now, part of the Library of Michigan’s genealogy collection? What does this mean for our historical documents?
Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm’s July 2009 announcement that she was issuing an executive order cutting the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries, due to budget concerns, caused much of a stir among librarians and other individuals. The order transferred the Library of Michigan and State Librarian to the Department of Education, the State Records Management Program to the Department of Management and Records, and the State Archives Program and related historical preservation programs to the Department of Natural Resources, to name a few. The changes sparked petitions, protest rallies, and even a state Senate hearing. The Michigan Library Association issued a statement opposing the order, saying it “dismantles library collections without a plan or any better alternative.” Ironically, as the state has more than a $2 billion deficit, the cuts have only saved $2 million in the first year. Furthermore, Granholm’s executive order gave permission to the Department of Education to either eliminate circulation of all Michigan and non-Michigan genealogy collections or transfer them to another institution.
However, this order was given almost a year ago, and I was curious to know how the split departments were doing, particularly the Library of Michigan. As an archival student, it really concerned me that the future of the state archives were up in the air, and that huge, historical collections could be transferred to another location at any time. What kind of locations could these archives be transferred to? What if they were sold to a private party that did not allow public access? Could the collections be destroyed? Needless to say, I did some research on the topic and some of my questions have been answered (while others have not).
On February 12, 2010, the Michigan Genealogical Council received a letter from the Department of Education, stating that they are currently identifying agencies or organizations outside of the state government, but located in Michigan, to manage and administer the Michigan Genealogy Collection that is currently housed in the Library of Michigan. The same goes for the Regional Federal Depository Program and the Federal Documents Collection. Furthermore, the General Main, Dewey, and Reference Collections will be given to other Michigan libraries to supplement their collections. All of this dismantling is expected to be accomplished no later than October 1, 2011.
A few days later, on February 17, 2010, the President of the Michigan Genealogical Council, Cynthia Grostick, met with State Librarian, Nancy Robertson, to discuss the future of the Library of Michigan. In general, the Library will be facing a 23% decrease in funding this year and be forced to lay off 13 employees by October 1st. Interestingly, the library had 100 staff members at its height, and will now be down to 30 staff members on October 1st. As far as archives are concerned, the library has decided to find a new home for the non-Michigan genealogy collections and federal documents outside of the state government.
Recently, on June 1, 2010, the Department of Education, and both Michigan Senate and House approved a bill (Senate bill No. 1154 – Section 803) that had both positive and negative consequences for Library of Michigan activists. The bill says that the library shall keep all collections that they already own and maintain, for at least another year. However, the bill also says that the library will not be held responsible for making the non-Michigan genealogy and the Federal Documents collections accessible to the public. In other words, the bill ordered the Library of Michigan to box-up and store these collections, if they do not have the money to maintain it for public access.
So what exactly does this mean for these two collections and for the rest of the archival collections, in general? If the library feels that they do not have the proper funds to maintain some of the collections, which they have already hinted at, these collections will be put in storage until the Michigan economy improves. Although many do not want these collections to be sold or given to other institutions, this scenario may even be worse. The Library of Michigan’s non-Michigan genealogy collection is an esteemed gathering of genealogy resources that brings researchers to the library from around the country each year. What if the financial decline from this loss of tourism hurts more than the savings of not having to maintain this collection? What if the state never again feels financially stable enough to make the maintenance of these records a priority? These thousands of dollars in resources could gather dust for ages.
Which do you think is worse – sending these collections to a non-governmental institution or put them away in storage? Do you think there is a better idea available for these records? And why is it that most of people involved in these historical decisions have absolutely no archival, historical, or librarian background?
References
Fitzpatrick, S. (2009, October). Michigan Librarians Speak Out; Governor Granholm
Grostick, C. (2010, February 12). Message posted to http://www.mimgc.org/LOM.html
Grostick, C. (2010, February 21). Message posted to http://www.mimgc.org/LOM.html
MLA Board of Directors (2009, July 31). MLA position statement on executive order no. 2009-36
Michigan Department of Education (2010, February 12). Library of Michigan plan. Retrieved
Michigan House (2010). House substitute for Senate bill no. 1154. Retrieved from
Michigan Senate (2010). Substitute for Senate bill no. 1154. Retrieved from
Michigan Senate (2009). Abolish Dept. of History, Arts, and Lib., S.B. 503-527: Committee summary. Retrieved from http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009
Oder, N. (2009, July 14). Michigan governor proposing killing Department of History, Arts,
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