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March 27, 2010

LIBRARIES FACE STAGGERING CUTS:

The Daily Record

By JOEL LANDAU • Staff Writer • March 27, 2010

The public libraries in Vineland and Millville are considering significant cuts, including access to materials, programs and hours of operations, due to massive state aid cuts proposed by the governor.

One of the little-noticed aspects of Gov. Chris Christie's wide-ranging budget address March 16 is a 74 percent cut in aid to the state's library system, from $14 million to about $3.7 million.
Library officials are now scrambling to figure out what services they'll have to reduce or cut, and they say the results may be devastating.

Christie's plan would destroy efforts made over the past 25 years to connect resources within the state's 304 state libraries and about 2,500 libraries in schools and other organizations throughout the state, said Pat Tumulty, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

The reduced funds could mean an elimination of most statewide library programs and services, as well as a 50 percent cut in direct allocations for all libraries, according to the association. The total loss of about $10.4 million also would cause the state to lose its ability to match $4.5 million in federal grants available for libraries over the next few years, Tumulty said.
Libraries essentially would be forced to operate independently from one another, unable to share materials between their facilities or through Internet databases because the infrastructure needed to access information from other libraries wouldn't be available anymore, she said.
That includes book sharing among libraries made possible by Cumberland Libraries United System, known as CLUES, local officials said.

"The cut is just over the top," Tumulty said. "You can try to work with some cuts, but you can't work with what's been eliminated."
Tumulty testified Thursday at a public hearing of the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee at Rutgers Law School-Camden.
"I often get a sense there is a disconnect between what elected officials know about the library and how the public uses them," she said. "These are programs the public values."

Christie's office did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The association reports 170,000 state residents use libraries every day. Libraries recently have seen "extraordinary numbers" from people needing Internet access amid the difficult economy, Tumulty said. Library staff have received training to assist patrons to apply for unemployment and search for jobs online, she said.

Two state programs that would be eliminated under Christie's proposal are the New Jersey Library Network, which distributed more than 3 million items through interlibrary loans last year, and New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, which provides services for small businesses.
State funding also would be cut for the Virtual Library Program, which provides Internet access and shares various news articles, academic papers, literature and information databases to 2,500 libraries, schools and other organizations in the state. But Tumulty said that important service will get a one-year lifeline because federal funds can keep it going until 2012.

The directors of the Vineland and Millville public libraries said they're still trying to determine the fallout of the budget proposal, but they're adamant it will have a big impact on services.
Vineland Library Director Gloria Urban said the cuts will mean changes in the children's summer reading program, in which the state provided 3,100 books to 254 kids last year, and reductions in training for its staff.

The Vineland library uses its state appropriation to purchase materials. That allocation is projected to be slashed from $54,000 to $27,000, she said.
The library isn't in danger of losing Internet access, because its shares its connection with the city.

About 700 people visit Vineland's library each day.
"I have to step back and consider all of the different ramifications," Urban said. "It will take some time to assimilate and figure out where all these cuts will have an impact."

Millville Library Director Irene Percelli said her facility's state funds will be cut from $32,000 to $16,000. If the Virtual Library service ends, the library might have to spend $80,000 in the future to continue its Internet capabilities, she said.

The Millville library started a letter-writing campaign Wednesday that had 63 responses by Thursday afternoon. The state association also is encouraging residents to write to Christie and legislators.

"We are the one organization in the community that bridged the digital divide between the haves and have-nots," Percelli said, adding two-thirds of city residents have a library card and the facility gets 200,000 visits a year. "This will hurt a lot."

Neither Urban nor Percelli was willing to discuss specifics regarding potential impact on employment or library hours, but both said those areas were under consideration.
"If you care about your library in Cumberland County," Urban said, "contact your legislator."
Librarians are still trying to determine what cuts would be made, but say much of the CLUES system appears a likely casualty.

It connects all libraries in the county -- including those in the three cities, the county library and Cumberland County College -- and allows residents to view the libraries' catalogues and databases from home. The system also allows for interlibrary loans.
Myron Estelle, a librarian and information technology manager for the county library, said delivery of books between the libraries and the Internet databases would no longer be available through CLUES after these cuts. The county still plans to operate the Web site, which allows residents to view their account and get information about libraries and events.

But the infrastructure for accessing catalogues from computers outside the libraries would no longer exist, meaning you'd have to go to a library to find out what it offers. Libraries also wouldn't be able to share books among their facilities. They plan to still allow patrons to use their library cards to check out books from libraries other than the one to which they belong -- but those individuals would have to go to whatever library owns the item, rather than having it shipped to their local library.

Tumulty said the library funding issue has not received much attention in the early aftermath of Christie's address, in which the new governor laid out his plan to close a state budget deficit that he said is about $11 billion.

"I understand $800 million" in cuts for school districts "is a big number, but most school districts weren't cut by more than 5 percent," Tumulty said. "This is a total elimination of ... programs and a cut in state aid programs. These programs are not reduced. They are eliminated."

Posted by tumulty at March 27, 2010 2:07 PM

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