New Congress May Help Libraries

The election of the new Congress last month—with Democratic majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate—should bode well for libraries, according to Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington Office.

“The voters sent the message that they weren’t happy with the way the government is running,” she told LJ. “So I hope that means there will be real cooperation between both houses of Congress and the President in the future, and that’s good for libraries.” She noted that simple gridlock has slowed the approval of library appropriations bills on which both parties have agreed.

The Bush administration has actually proposed more funds for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) than Congress has appropriated, she pointed out, so there is a record of support. On other issues, however, the shift in Washington may help libraries stave off “poorly written legislation,” such as the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), which aims to block social networking sites but could block many other interactive web applications. DOPA passed the House of Representatives over the summer but has been stalled in the Senate.

As for issues like “net neutrality” or copyright, Sheketoff said, “the Democrats are coming into office with a commitment to [equity], so that’s good for libraries.”

Regarding the ongoing and planned closure of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) libraries, she pointed out that a Democratic House can call hearings and use subpoena power. “I do think it would be very helpful to compel EPA to publicly explain what it’s doing,” Sheketoff said, noting that the closings have begun even before the agency’s decreased appropriation has been approved by Congress.

Indeed, even before the election, a coalition of 18 Senators wrote colleagues on the Appropriations Committee asking them to direct the EPA “to restore and maintain public access and onsite library collections and services...while the Agency solicits and considers public input on its plan to drastically cut its library budget and services.”

Sixty percent of voters in Austin, TX, approved $90 million for a new central library. The 250,000 square foot main library at a location downtown will replace the 27-year-old John Henry Faulk Central Library. The Faulk building was intended to serve a population of 300,000—which has since doubled—so Austin Public Library needs new books, programs, and public access computers.

In Oregon, Multnomah County voters renewed a library levy before it expired in July 2008 and agreed to a higher assessment that will provide more than $30 million a year over five years.

Oakland wasn’t as fortunate. Though 63.5 percent of those California voters favored Measure N, a $148 million library bond measure, it fell just short of the two-thirds majority necessary for approval. The measure would have funded construction of a new main library at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, two new branch libraries, and renovated and expanded existing branches.

Last summer, the ALA Council passed a Resolution on Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) Laws, calling for ALA and allied library associations to oppose laws that have capped public spending and limited libraries’ budget growth. According to Michael Dowling, director of ALA’s Chapter Relations Office, voters in the states facing such TABOR initiatives rejected them, by 55 percent in Maine and 70 percent in both Nebraska and Oregon.