Gov. Brown's Proposed Library Cuts

Governor Brown’s January budget proposal was released last week to universal groans and howls as every sector of public funding (with the exception of public schools) took massive hits. Public libraries were not excluded.
 
The governor’s budget proposes the elimination of four key programs for public libraries: Public Library Foundation funding (PLF), transaction-based reimbursement (TBR), literacy funding, and funding for regional library systems. Each in their way are critical to the future of public libraries as they exist in this state. I’d like to explain what each one is and what losing it will mean to the Riverside County Library System.
 
PLF is direct aid to public libraries. Statewide, the program is authorized to be funded at about $2.80 per person or $107 million. It has never been that high. It reached a high of $56 million in 2000-01, of which about $300,000 came to Riverside County. Last year it was at $12 million statewide, of which less than $100,000 came to the Riverside County Library. This funding is used as a local contribution to the building of new libraries such as the Robidoux and Sun City Libraries that were opened in 2010 and to pay for vital renovations and upgrades.
 
TBR, Transaction-based reimbursement, is a payment from the state when one library system lends books and other library materials to customers from another library system. It is intended to support the sharing of library resources, and, as such, offsets the need for every library to have every book that the public might want.   In fact, in Riverside County, the approximately $220,000 received annually directly support the delivery program that brings books to you from San Bernardino County and other libraries in the area.
 
Literacy Funding from the state library supports the continuation of the Riverside County Library Literacy program that has helped thousands of residents in the county to achieve reading skills that will allow them to achieve their potential at work and in their personal lives and supports school-aged children in their ability to improve the school performance. RCLS receives only about $40,000 per year from this program, but without it, our efforts to address the literacy program in Riverside County will probably not continue.
 
Finally, Gov. Brown has also proposed to eliminate funding for regional library systems. In our case, that is the Inland Library System, which provides a variety of services, including delivery, reference support, funding for databases, training, summer reading program, and more. Loss of these programs would also impact our ability to share resources and to grow responsive library programs.
 
We understand that everyone must take their lumps, but what the governor may not realize is that in tough economic times, people need libraries and the services they offer even more. In fact, during the last three years of the economic downturn, use of our RCLS libraries has increased dramatically. Our circulation has risen over 30% in that period and programming attendance has risen over 150%. Use of computers in our libraries has also skyrocketed as people without computers at home use our Internet access to search for jobs, complete unemployment forms, and seek new skills and information to help them compete in these hard economic times.
 
These cuts in library funding will save the state about $30 million, a tiny fraction of the budget deficit, but they will deprive the people who need them most of the most vital resources they need to cope with these difficult times.