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March 9, 2009
Library Cuts
It is very quick, easy and necessary to send this letter (by email, fax or snail mail) to your elected officials. Tomorrow is Library Lobby Day, (today is Virtual Lobby Day!) and we are counting on your support.
"As state budget negotiations ramp-up, I am writing to remind you to reject the draconian $18 million cut in Library Aid proposed in the 2009-10 Executive Budget. This proposed 18% cut in funding for library services would be on top of the two cuts in Library Aid imposed in 2008 and would bring library funding down to a level not seen since 1993. These cuts would also result in a corresponding loss of $2 million in federal funds for library services by 2011.Libraries have already contributed their fair share toward reducing the state's budget deficit. Library Aid would drop from $102 million in 2007 to $80.5 million in 2009 under the Governor's proposal. Between 1998-2006, libraries and library systems received no increases, while other educational institutions received generous increases. When we finally received increases, the funds barely made up for eight years of neglect and inflation. Now -- when libraries are needed more than ever, when libraries are being used more than ever - more cuts are being proposed.
Library use is up dramatically in every community across the state. The neediest in our communities use our libraries to get help writing resumes, applying for jobs, taking ESL and literacy classes, and accessing government assistance programs. Families in our communities use libraries to borrow reading materials and other resources, learn about do-it-yourself projects, and enroll their children in early literacy programs. A recent survey has shown that 80% of libraries in the state have helped a patron look for a job in the past three months and 75% have helped a patron access public assistance.
Library systems are the backbone of our libraries and information infrastructure. They are an example of how the library community has long been a champion and role model for regional cooperation, resource sharing and providing services in a cost-effective and efficient manner, that saves libraries of all types and their patrons money.
Further cuts in Library Aid, will jeopardize the very existence of many of these library systems, and eliminate the very mechanisms that make libraries one of the most cost-effective public services in our communities. No other state funded program serves so many people (over 75% of New York households and getting bigger) with so little state funding (less than one tenth of one percent of the state budget and getting smaller).
To add insult to injury, the NYS Department of Tax and Finance has discontinued mailing paper tax forms to individuals and instead directed them to libraries to pick up forms or download them off the internet. So not only are you asking us to do more with less, but you are asking libraries to help collect the very tax dollars you are taking away from us.
Please consider all other options, like using the discretionary federal stimulus funds, before further reducing funding for our libraries and library systems. Hope to see you at Library Lobby Day on Tuesday, March 10th. For more info visit www.nyla.org."
Local libraries are already beginning to feel the cuts that have been imposed on us -- and more are expected. I can't make it to Albany, but today -- Monday, March 9th is "Virtual" Lobby Day! So, in honor of this occasion, we're asking everyone residing in NEW YORK to post a web letter via NYLA’s Online Advocacy Center today. Even if you have sent previous letters, please do so again because this is a new letter. Together, we CAN make a difference!
It's fast...it's easy. Just follow the link and become a library advocate by contacting our elected officials today. I've already gotten a response from Michelle Schimel. She said that she is advocating to protect library funding. Please take a moment to help your community.
Posted by Michele at March 9, 2009 9:51 AM
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