Governor threatens to end support of public libraries

 A delicately balanced state library system could be undermined by actions Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is planning as part of the fiscal 2016-17 budget.

In addition to cuts in state funding for state and local libraries, the governor is also proposing to repeal the statute that requires the state to support public libraries.

State Librarian Kendall Wiggin  said in his testimony to the state Appropriations Committee in March that the state statute dedicated to libraries “ensures that principal public libraries receive adequate local funding; provide equal access to all residents; don’t charge residents for library services; participate in Connecticard; and submit annual statistics to the State Library.”

Last week, librarians from around the state met with the governor and expressed their concerns. News reports of the meeting said the governor blamed state spending caps on the need for cuts.

Area legislators and librarians also said the funding cuts definitely threaten local libraries. More important, they said, the potential repeal of the statutes is  more worrisome than any cuts. 

“The statutes are written into the government legislation that ensures that libraries are cared for every year,” said Lynn Barker Steinmayer, who is library director of the Goshen Public Library.  

“We would understand if the governor said, ‘Look, this year we can only give you X amount, but next year, if we are careful, we should be able to restore funding.’ We have a  ‘rainy day fund’ and could make a short-term sacrifice if necessary. 

“However, to completely remove the statute saying that they are responsible to the citizens of Connecticut and the public libraries is something completely different.”

Lorraine Kerr Faison, interim executive director of the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, agreed, saying, “Elimination of enabling statutes that allow library programs and services to exist will be difficult to overturn. Thus, the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon and all libraries in the state are facing a permanent loss of essential funding.”

State Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) said, “While the governor may be proposing to eliminate the funding and the program as a line item in the budget, the Legislature will NOT eliminate the program. The Democratic majority will concur with Lynn’s viewpoint: It is unreasonable  to ‘completely remove the statute.’ 

“While funding is being proposed to be cut on many many programs, we will not be eliminating the programs such as this one. I feel I am on solid ground with the thinking of my colleagues.”

She and state Sen. Clark Chapin (R-30) are both opposed to the cuts in funding.

“I serve on the Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee (State Library falls under this subcommittee) of Appropriations,” Chapin said.  

“I have received a ton of emails and phone calls asking that these cuts be restored. I spoke to at least a dozen constituents on Wednesday who were at the Capitol lobbying to restore these cuts. I took the opportunity to show them the plaque on my wall from the Connecticut Library Association expressing appreciation for my support in the past and to convey to them my support for restoring these cuts.”

More specifically, he said, “I do oppose the cuts since they represent such a small portion of the state budget and negatively affect so many people. I’ve encouraged committee leadership to restore the funding, and I’m cautiously optimistic that they will.”  

The total cuts to the library would be about $3.5 million.

He cautioned, however, that “even if the cuts are restored in the Appropriations Committee’s budget, any final budget passed will most likely be negotiated between legislative leadership and the governor.”

 No more Connecticard

The librarians interviewed for this story, and others who have been quoted by other news media over the past month, all refer to a carefully constructed web that links small and large libraries across the state. 

Connecticut has a system called Connecticard that allows patrons of one library in the state to check out materials from any other Connecticut library. The libraries keep a tally of those transactions involving patrons from out of town and the state reimburses them. That program was created 42 years ago, Wiggin said in his testimony. 

“Last year, towns shared their collections loaning $68 million worth of items (4.5 million items) to residents of other towns. In return, the State Library will reimburse those towns $950,000 for these loans made to residents.”

The governor’s proposed budget eliminates this program. 

Without it, Wiggin said, “towns will have no incentive to open their libraries to non-residents and this cost effective program will collapse.”

Libraries in this region said that the state funding that they receive for this program is minimal. The impact will hit larger libraries more heavily; they will have to decide whether or not to allow patrons of smaller libraries to access their collections. This is expected to have an impact in particular on students who are doing research.

 Loss of high-speed Internet

The governor’s budget also proposes the elimination of the Connecticut Education Network (CEN), which provides free high-speed Internet service to libraries and schools. 

“Eliminating this option for schools and libraries in an age where we live digitally would be crippling to not only our public education system but our community as well,” Willis said.

“Many people who cannot afford home computers, or may lack access to high-speed Internet in this area because it is unavailable at their home, use the public library computers to look for employment, pay bills, file their taxes online and stay in touch with family and friends.

“Before CEN, we were paying about $6,000 a year for high-speed Internet,” said Claudia Cayne, director of the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury.

Another cut that threatens the cooperative system created by the libraries is a consortium that allows bulk purchase of everything from “laminate for paperback books to furniture and computers,” Steinmayer said. 

The program also helps libraries to purchase audiobooks and DVDs. She estimated that the consortium helped save the Goshen Library about $38,000 in 2014.

Steinmayer broke down the figures on shared library items. 

The town of Goshen, she said, has a population of about 3,000. Non-residents of the town borrow about 144 items from Goshen every month. Residents of Goshen borrow on average 520 items from other libraries every month. 

“The Goshen Library strives to meet the needs of our residents but I doubt if we could provide the extra 6,000-plus items annually that this borrowing from other libraries directly means.”

 Libraries can still share

Cayne noted that the end of the Connecticard system would not mean the end of the interlibrary loan system by which libraries around the state deliver materials to each other at the request of patrons. There are two systems for this type of borrowing, she said. One is the state’s Request program. The other is a subscription service used by most area libraries called Bibliomation. 

Through these programs, library patrons can go online, find the books or movies or audio materials they want, and order them. The materials are delivered, usually within about five days, by a state-funded van (called the Connecticar).

Funding for Connecticar is also endangered under the new budget. But the Request and Bibliomation systems are not under threat — because they are already funded by the towns.

As a side note, Cayne said that the libraries prefer to have patrons borrow through the more efficient Bibliomation system rather than through Request.

The Scoville Library was the first publicly funded library in America. The governor, in his remarks about the proposed library cuts, said that in the future libraries will have to rely more heavily on fundraising and donations. 

Wiggin, in his remarks in March, said, “At just 41 cents per capita, Connecticut ranks 35th in the nation in direct state aid to public libraries. Elimination of Connecticard and Grants to Public Libraries will drop  Connecticut’s direct aid to just 8 cents per capita and drop Connecticut’s ranking to 42nd in the nation.”

He concluded his remarks by saying, “The library and humanities programs that are being proposed for elimination in this budget are not broken, yet without funding, they will break. Gone will be the regional efficiencies that we have perfected over decades and the opportunity to deliver hundreds of millions in savings to towns and cities in the years ahead.”