New York State funding for libraries is going downhill--as are all economic supports (except legislators' salaries and perks). If the Governor's Executive Budget is unchanged, and for libraries it probably will not be changed, New York State library support will be back at 1998 levels, and this does not even take inflation into account. Governor Patterson has proposed cutting $2.4 million from next year's budget. No other part of public education has been cut so often and so deeply.
New York library staff and friends of the libraries are lobbying intensely against the cuts. On March 2 nearly a thousand persons showed up in Albany to speak up in favor of at least maintaining library funding--fifty of those being from our own Mid-Hudson Library System. Although the final budget, if on time, will not be firm until April 1, the delegations were not encouraged to think that the legislature will restore full funding.
Of course, New York State is not alone in facing severe financial problems--most other states have similar gaps between their projected income and the amounts they have become used to spending. Our message to the states has to be that in a time of great joblessness, free public libraries are an essential part of recovery, giving out-of-work job seekers free computer time, self-help books, and even free entertainment from novels to DVDs of movies. Libraries need support from the state so that they can help restore normal personal incomes.
Monday, March 8, 2010
State Library Funding Going Down
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