MICHAEL J. DARGAN | Posted: Sunday, February 10, 2008 12:00 am
Have you recently visited your local library to check out a book or video? To have a youth librarian read a story to your child? To check your email, plan a vacation, or file your taxes online? If so, you've got lots of company. Last year more than 2 million library card holding Iowans made some 17.5 million visits to their 543 public libraries.
Iowans are proud of their tradition of providing free library services to all citizens; however, that heritage is in now in jeopardy. Gov. Chet Culver's proposed budget for FY2009 cuts state funding for library services by more than $1.1 million.
Should these cuts be implemented, the State Library will lose $135,000, the Library Service Areas -- agencies that provide support services to over 500 public libraries -- would lose $259,442, and direct aid would be reduced by $725,000. In other words, state funding for library services would be cut by an astounding 18 percent in a year where the budget as a whole increases by 6 percent.
The proposed cuts would have immediate consequences for local libraries. A plausible scenario would have the cuts in direct aid applied to the Enrich Iowa program, which provides seed money for local library initiatives. The Waterloo and Cedar Falls Public Libraries have chosen to combine their share of Enrich Iowa money to subsidize the extremely popular "Third Age Project," which provides book discussion groups and nostalgia kits to local nursing homes and shut-ins. The governor's budget proposal would result in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls funding being reduced by $12,268 and $7,449 respectively. Without that funding, the future of our outreach services to the elderly is in doubt.
Yet another scenario would see the governor's cuts fall on the programs that allow Iowa's libraries to share resources through Open Access and Access Plus (i.e., Inter-Library Loan). {M3If the cut of $725,000 is taken entirely from these programs, the approximate result would be a reduction in per transaction funding for Open Access from $.34 to $.18, as well as a reduction in per transaction reimbursement for Access Plus loans from $1.75 to $1.21.
The upshot of cuts to Open Access and Access Plus? It would be difficult for cash-strapped libraries to justify participation in expensive programs that primarily benefit the patrons of other libraries. Academic and larger urban libraries would leave the programs. Free inter-library loan would become a thing of the past, and neighboring libraries would be less likely to share their collections with others. Iowa's 2 million library patrons would have their access to reading materials curtailed.
Cutting Iowa's Library Service Area system by more than a quarter of a million dollars would result in our local agency, the Northeast Iowa Library Service Area (NEILSA) losing about $37,000. This loss would hamper NEILSA's ability to manage an E-Rate consortium that regularly brings 75-80,000 Federal dollars into northeast Iowa's libraries. In other words, for every dollar saved by the governor's proposed cuts, local municipalities would have to come up with two dollars -- or their patrons would see declines in library services.
The State Library provides leadership, coordination and services for Iowa libraries. It purchases e-resources (online magazines and newspapers) for all Iowa libraries and their users to share. Last year, Iowans conducted more than 8 million searches in these online databases. The State Library also makes it possible for nearly 300 Iowa public libraries to develop and maintain their own Web sites, using software and templates developed by State Library staff. Each year, the State Library provides more than 500 Iowa public libraries with materials for their summer library programs, so they have ready-made presentations to offer the kids in their communities and don't have to re-invent the wheel. The State Library also produces several specialized Web-based information resources, such as the State Data Center's Web site of Iowa demographic information and an Iowa inventor database.
The efforts of the Library Service Areas and State Library to help Iowans adapt to the "flat" world are efficient and effective. Their ability to provide services to our libraries will be severely limited if the proposed cuts are carried out.
In 1999 Iowans borrowed some 13.3 million items from municipal libraries. By 2007 that traffic had increased to some 17.6 million items. Clearly, Iowa's library community is providing high quality, high volume services at a very economical cost. And Iowans are enthusiastically partaking of those service.
Library users who wish to share their opinions on reductions in state aid to their libraries should either call or go online to express their views. To reach Gov. Culver's office, (515) 281-5211. To share your concerns with your State Legislator, visit www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/.
If you don't have Internet access, visit your local library for modern, high speed Internet service. We're open 68 hours a week and our highly trained professionals are eager to help.
Michael J. Dargan is chairman of the Iowa Library Association Government Affairs Committee. Contact him at MikeDargan@iowalibraryassociation.org.