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Military Libraries Face ClosuresIn what could prefigure a distressing trend among military libraries, Fort Huachuca Library, located on an Army installation base in southeastern Arizona, closed recently after officials determined that the library did not meet community and Army standards. Under the authority provided by the National Defense Authorization Act, approved by Congress in 2005, the library will enter into a municipal partnership with the nearby Sierra Vista Public Library, which will provide library services to residents of the base.According to sources at the Fort Huachuca Library, the library’s users, primarily soldiers and their families, were left out of the decision process. “A number of services the soldiers had received—including military-network programs and access to library staff knowledgeable in military-related issues—are now unavailable,” said ALA President Leslie Burger, who recently sent a letter expressing her concern to Acting Secretary of the Army Preston Geren. “Closing this historic library, especially during a time of war, deprives soldiers and their families of an important resource for education, information, and technology.” The Fort Huachuca–Sierra Vista partnership is a test-bed pilot program, and could have national ramifications if deemed successful by the military. The Army’s Northeast Region Office, which oversees military communities based in 20 locations, is interested in expanding NDAA legislation that approved the program—an ominous proposition for those disturbed over the past year by the Environmental Protection Agency’s mass library closings and cutbacks. “This is only the beginning,” said Randy Groth, civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, in the February 8 Fort Huachuca Scout. “There are other areas we can look at [for creating partnerships].” Meanwhile, in Falls Church, Virginia, the Army Surgeon General’s Armed Forces Medical Library, founded in 1836, is battling to avoid shutdown in the wake of budget cuts. The staff is currently gathering information to make a case for their institution’s survival. Posted April 13, 2007. |
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