Database Cuts, Spending Caps Threaten NJ Libraries

Lynn Blumenstein & Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 07/25/2007

New Jersey library advocates are scrambling to respond to legislation that cuts database funding and caps municipal spending increases. The New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI), launched in 2005, aims to help entrepreneurs, small business owners, researchers, and students with free web access to science, technology, medical, and business databases. However, the FY08 budget provides only $2 million to continue the initiative, $1 million less than needed to maintain the program. The State Library and the NJKI Task Force aim to use the funds to maintain access for as long as the money lasts, likely until Feb. 28, 2008.

For more than 25 years, library funding had been exempt from a state cap on municipal spending increases, but this year, a four percent cap passed that eliminates that exemption. The law went into effect on July 1, 2007 for libraries whose fiscal years began then; otherwise, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008. Library supporters are working with the office of Gov. Jon Corzine to gain exemptions for small municipalities.

The Jamesburg Public Library is caught in a bind, The cost of operating the library outpaces the cap, Mayor Tony LaMantia said, according to the Home News Tribune, which means other programs would have to be cut. Beyond that, reported the East Brunswick Sentinel, the state requires that the library be paid a certain percentage of the assessed value on real estate, and rising home values should mean that library funding grows about 15 percent a year. Besides lobbying the state for a waiver, council officials are considering a referendum to close the library and potentially reopen it as an association library, outside of the city’s control.