Bad News in PA: Only Some State Library Aid Restored

After months of hoping that legislators would restore the 50 percent cut ($37.5 million) in state library funding (see News , LJ 9/15/03, p. 20ff.), librarians in Pennsylvania in late December got some bad news: only $10 million would be saved. State funding—a crucial component in improving Pennsylvania libraries in recent years—in FY03/04 dropped from $75 million to $47.5 million, a nearly 37 percent cut.

The Philadelphia Inquirer headline read, "Budget tally: Schools win, libraries lose." Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association, called the legislature's decision a "classic example of penny wise and pound foolish. Having had a small taste of what state investment can do, to go back to the dark ages is just gut-wrenching."

He noted that the administration of new governor Edward Rendell focused on "huge issues" such as increasing revenues and reforming education. "In that context, we just weren't a priority," he told LJ. "With some of these issues out of the way, we need to be a priority in the next budget," he said, noting that Rendell's next budget address would be February 3. "We will soon know where we stand."

Libraries statewide, anticipating the loss in funding, began cutting materials, programs, equipment, jobs, and hours even before the legislature acted. Most facilities, unlike the state library, operate on calendar year budgets.

"I've never seen a cut this severe," Jack M. Berk, director of the Bethlehem Area Public Library, told the Morning Call. His library will close 14 more days in 2004 than in 2003. The Free Library of Philadelphia eliminated Saturday hours at most of its 55 branches.

Allentown library director Kathryn Stephanoff, facing a $300,000 shortfall in a budget of nearly $2.5 million, told the Morning Call that the library will cut back on materials and equipment—and will try to raise private funds. The Bucks County Free Library, according to the Inquirer, was to lay off up to 20 full- and part-time workers from its 190-member staff.

Among some smaller libraries, according to the Daily and Sunday Review, the Mather Memorial Library in Ulster will no longer open on Fridays; it stopped purchases of new videotapes and audiobooks. The Sayre Public Library has cut materials spending significantly.

The Sullivan County Library, Dushore, reduced weekly open hours from 39 to 32 and, like some other libraries, will have to apply for an exemption from state standards, which mandate 35 hours of service a week.

Pennsylvania for years had underfunded libraries, but a Philadelphia Inquirer series and lobbying by the state library association helped move former governor Tom Ridge to propose a dramatic set of changes, using state investment to spur local spending. For that achievement, Ridge was named LJ's 2001 Politician of the Year (LJ 9/15/01, cover, p. 42–43).

Now, library funding has gone backward. "Even at $75 million, we weren't even close to the national average," Miller said. In some cases, libraries are asking their city and county funding agencies to make up some of the slack. But library directors around the state say that patrons are going to experience painful service cuts.