Thanks Renee.  More photos on the Family History Society of Arizona facebook page. This is what the library looked like.  Today it's a shambles..  Books, papers all over.  A travesty.Dee in Phoenix  www.azwvgs.org - West Valley Genealogical SocietyWhen a person dies, a library closes. Researching: NJ: Snook, Bozarth, Dickerson, Dalton, Hicks, Asay NY: Semlear, Stoothoff, Foster, Murray, Dierks, Cairns PA: Hicks, Shaw, Roberts, Swartz/Black, Penrose Nova Scotia: Arthur, Hutt, Eisenhauer, Conrod, Morris   From: Renee L. Dauven via <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2015 5:54 PM Subject: Re: [NYNEWYOR] ARIZONA State Library Devalues Genealogy---Responses? Hi folks,     No wonder folks are upset! compare this: http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/histphotos/id/9646/rec/16 http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/histphotos/id/9648/rec/18 http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/histphotos/id/9652/rec/19 with this: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/politicalinsider/2015/08/08/chairman-quits-after-az-genealogy-library-changes/31361151/ (Scroll down the article to the picture of the new genealogy area) Digital my foot! Oregon had just one room and it was staffed  by volunteers, not paid staff.  Most of the collection, if I remember correctly, belonged to the Genealogy Society... Renee L. Dauven On 8/15/2015 4:51 PM, mizscarlettny via wrote: > > > > > Dear Friends, > > Out of state researchers complain about how tightly New York controls who gets what records. My response is: > At least we have records, and repositories that value them. But, I'll add to that...so far. > > What in the heck is going on in the "Wild West?"  We're not talking about private libraries, Folks. > > First, Loreen Wells reported that The Oregon State Library research room was closing in > October 2014 due to budget cuts demanded by the Oregon Legislature whose mind was made up. > Public outcries went to deaf ears, or perhaps more accurately stated, landed on absent ears. > > Now, the Arizona State Library is following suit? Dee, would you please respond to all from AZ? > > Is this a sign of the times or a priority of the "text-me generation." > > Please share your views. Story from Dick Eastman folows. > > Barb > -------------------- > > > > "Chairman of Arizona Library Advisory Board Resigns following Genealogy Library's Changes." > > >                         Dick Eastman                        ·        August 9, 2015                            ·            Legal Affairs                                                    ·                                    9  Comments > > >                                 >                                                     > Without warning and without enough time for the public to file comments, Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan recently moved the state library’s genealogy collection to a much smaller facility with only two bookshelves, holding a fraction of the books previously available to all. The move brought howls of protests from the genealogy community. (See my earlier articles at http://goo.gl/HChkUO and at http://goo.gl/mdTkwf for details.) > > > > The Secretary of State also laid off four employees of the state library at the same time. > Genealogists are not the only ones protesting the abrupt and unannounced changes. Catherine May, Chairman of the State Library’s Advisory Board, has resigned in protest. “I just don’t want my name tied to Secretary Reagan,” May said. “I don’t trust what they’ve done.” > Details may be found in an article by Mary Jo Pitzl in The Republic‘s web site at http://goo.gl/VBkw9q. > > > > > > > > ************************************* > Jim Garrity, List Administrator > [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2015.0.6125 / Virus Database: 4392/10442 - Release Date: 08/15/15 ************************************* Jim Garrity, List Administrator [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message