Diminishing Help for Libraries

Everyone in the United States must know by now that the "Great Recession" has disproportionately affected (in this order) the jobless, the over-borrowed, and governments at all levels. Those of us who still are employed (about 83% of the ordinary workforce) and with manageable debt are in good shape personally, but still cannot escape the problems of local, state, and our national governments. Also I should mention that the owners of many small businesses are harmed by lower demand for their products.

Libraries are one example out of many where the problems of underfunded government entities hit the otherwise financial happy camper. Some libraries are government entities themselves, being either part of a special library district or, worse from a financial point of view, part of a local school district--worse because school funding may be more affected by the Great Recession than aid to libraries. Free association libraries like the Pleasant Valley Free Library are hit hardest if they have not previously obtained Chapter 414 funding, since the local Town government, with financial problems of its own, is very likely to cut library spending drastically. This is of course a disaster for the library. Libraries that have previously had the voters support level funding through Chapter 414 are in less trouble because that part of their income cannot by law be reduced. But even 414 libraries, including the Pleasant Valley Library, suffer from the need to deal with greatly increased patronage that stems in part from the Great Recession and also from cuts in other forms of aid, notably county and state aid.

In Dutchess County, aid this year will be 87% of what it was the previous year--not an enormous decline, although how that will trickle down from the Mid-Hudson system to local libraries is not yet clear. State aid in the Governor's budget for 2010-2011 will be reduced by 2.76%. In dollars, this is a reduction of $2.4 million from last year's total of $86.8 million in library funding. This may not seem like a lot, but if the Governor's proposal is in the final appropriation, it will be the fifth cut to libraries in State funding over the past two years.

Reductions in State and Country funds combined with inflation gradually erode the ability of a library to provide adequate services to the community. When combined with the increased demand for these services that is occurring, in part, because of the Great Recession, a library faces serious financial problems. At the Pleasant Valley Free Library we have extended the use Chapter 414 money that was to have lasted for three years into the fourth year, but careful hoarding of resources can take us only so far. The time is coming fast when our library will either have to get a mandate for higher income from the Town voters or cut services.