State Budget for Libraries

Still no news on the PA public library subsidy! We did meet with local officials, donors, and advocates last Friday morning for breakfast at Grove Family Library. We were delighted with the turnout! Breakfast was sponsored by Panera Bread of Chambersburg.

Fifty people turned out to hear my state of the library message, tour the library or Book Buggy, and listen to Representative Kauffman read Our Library by Eve Bunting to a group of storytime preschoolers.

To advocate for your library, use the contact information on our main webpage. Thank you.

Upcoming Events -- Community Reading

If you are interested in local or American history, don't miss author Bob O'Connor's talk about John Brown on Thursday evening, October 1, 7:00, at Coyle Free Library. Bob is coming from West Virginia to talk, sell, and autograph his books.

He will be returning November 9, to discuss Abraham Lincoln at Grove Family Library.

Upcoming Events

Don't miss the following events with our partners:

A benefit showing of the movie "Freedom Writers" at the Capitol Theatre on the evening of September 8, which is Naitonal Literacy Day -- proceeds for Franklin County Literacy Council, admission $3.00

The Franklin County Community Services Expo at the Franklin Fire Company on Franklin Street, on Thursday, September 10 -- great door prizes!!

Budget Update

Sadly, there is not much new information about state funding to public libraries coming out of Harrisburg. Each day brings us closer to additional cutbacks. So far, the largest reduction in Franklin County library operations has been a 10% cutback in expenses for books, audiovisual materials, and magazines. We are also letting our subscription to HeritageQuest (online) expire at the end of the year.

We continue to stretch every dollar until the print gets blurry. Next year, depending on the level of the state cut in funding, we may have to reduce staff and hours.

Meanwhile, payments on our federal grants continue to be delayed. The word is, "no LSTA payments until the Pennsylvania budget is settled." We are not exactly sure what one issue has to do with the other. That delay in payments has halted the teen collection development project at Grove Family Library and the system-wide preschool storytime music and movement project.

On a brighter note, I would like to thank everyone who has given to the Annual Appeal this year. At the moment, we have received more donations this year than we had at the same time last year. Thank you for digging deeper. With libraries busier than ever, we are really in need.

Please take a moment to advocate for public library funding with your favorite state official today. Thank you!

Special Projects

The library system has been awarded grants from the national Institute for Museum and Library Services to develop Grove Family Library's teen collection and to introduce "In Motion @ Your Public Library" to all preschool storytime participants. The state government has decided to withhold our payments of federal grant money until the PA budget is resolved, delaying implementation of these two exciting projects.

Just to keep you up to speed, however, Lou Cowles and Grove staff have placed one order for new teen reads with their initial grant payment. So watch for the new items and visti their reorganized Teen Center.

We have appointed Lori Cooley the coordinator of the preschool "In Motion" project, ordered yoga mats from Dunhams at a nice discount, and prepared orders for program and collection materials to support the project. Hopefully, we will still be able to introduce the program this fall in most of Franklin County's libraries.

State Funding

I have been so busy creating tools to help library supporters advocate (see the main webpage) that I haven't spared time to talk to you on the blog. At Franklin County Library System, we need all hands on deck to convince state legislators that public libraries are MOST CRITICAL to the public during economic crisis.

While we do not expect to avoid cuts completely, we are asking on behalf of our customers that our cuts be equitable to other critical human services. There has been repeated talk from the Senate of cutting public libraries by 50%, like was done in 2003. That would have a crippling affect on your library services, reducing our overall budget by 20%.

Your voice counts! Please let it be heard in favor of strong funding for Pennsylvania public libraries.

One Book Author and Illustrator Visit McConnellsburg

Did you know that Florence and Wendell Minor, author and illustrator of If You Were a Penguin, visited McConnellsburg yesterday afternoon? Wendell shared his experiences growing up as an artist and illustrating books today.

Their visit was made possible through funding for the Pennsylvania "One Book, Every Young Child" program. Visit http://www.paonebook.org/ website today for more information about the program and activities connected with the featured book.