{"id":478731,"date":"2026-09-28T23:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478731\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T23:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:26:08","slug":"group-opposes-proposal-to-privatize-fresno-county-library-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478731\/","title":{"rendered":"Group opposes proposal to privatize Fresno County library system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A proposal to privatize the Fresno County Public Library system is drawing pushback from local elected leaders and library workers, who say the county\u2019s libraries should remain publicly run.<\/p>\n<p>Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi and Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez held a news conference on Monday with Fresno County librarians represented by SEIU 521, to speak out against the privatization proposal. <\/p>\n<p>They are concerned about turning what they described as a long-standing public institution and essential community service over to a private, for-profit operator.<\/p>\n<p>[RELATED] <a href=\"https:\/\/kmph.com\/news\/local\/dolly-partons-imagination-library-expands-to-fresno-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library expands to Fresno County<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chavez said he believes public libraries should remain accountable to the communities they serve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic libraries should remain public. Fresno County residents have invested in our library system for generations, and these institutions belong to the people we serve. Turning over their operations, budgets and management to a private company whose sole priority is profits, not a public benefit, raises serious concerns about accountability, access, material censorship, and the quality of services our residents depend on. I will continue to vehemently oppose the privatization of public services for the sake of private profits,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n<p>Karbassi said libraries provide more than access to books and should not be driven by profit motives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur libraries are more than buildings filled with books \u2014 they are public institutions that provide opportunity, education, resources and a place where every resident can belong. Decisions about our libraries should be driven by what is best for Fresno County residents, not by a private company\u2019s obligation to generate a profit. We should be investing in and strengthening our public libraries, not handing their operations over to a private corporation,\u201d Karbassi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A proposal to privatize the Fresno County Public Library system is drawing pushback from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-478731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}