Post #4143164
2026-07-27 17:18 UTC
Replies (1)
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@BRMiller@hcommons.social 2026-07-27 17:34
@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @jbaggs@infosec.exchange Reality sucks, sometimes. Several years ago a "local" public library system had their government entity decide to zero out their budget line. Not having local money to contribute to the state's library services meant they lost access to state-funded (and federally-funded) assets like the big databases that you can access from home thru your public library. What the local government didn't know was that the LARGE genealogy/local history collection was driving tourism. People would make multi-day trips to do research, and spend on hotels and meals. The library director had a staff member pull the *locations* of people who'd signed the collection's visitor book (which lives on their front desk) and sent to the local government. Bad PR got the funding "decision" reversed. But persons in the govt. had still decided that issue without consulting the library - or their users - at all.