I had intended to follow up on last week's column about the essential home library. But some actions taken this week by the Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado Legislature -- severe cuts in library funding, as well as many other programs -- deserve comment.

I got a wonderful response to my column about the essential home library -- more, in fact, than I can fit into a single column. So here are some of the highlights, pretty close to the way I got them:

One coffee table book of photos -- Ansel Adams or John Fielder.

One history book -- "The Century," by Peter Jennings.

"Who said that?" and "Familiar Quotations," by John Bartlett

"The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Brewer"

"Putnam's Concise Myth*o*log'i*cal Dictionary" (absolutely invaluable for crossword puzzles)

These are hard times for Colorado libraries, and they are getting worse.

Over the past several weeks, I've talked to my colleagues on the West Slope and the Front Range, in rural Colorado and the metro area. I've talked to librarians working in schools, colleges, and municipalities.

All of them are in trouble.

Last Saturday morning, I attended a workshop on "boardsmanship," put on by Pat Wagner of Pattern Research (www.pattern.com). With me were Mark Weston, President of our Library Board of Trustees, and Stevan Strain, head of our Board's Personnel Committee.

There were also public library board members and directors from several other libraries around the state. There were about 40 of us, all together.