Category Archives: Funding

Get Ready for Next Week’s Nat’l Library Legislative Day

Posted on April 30, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Prepare for the Event with Videos and Issue Briefs from Policy Experts

From May 7–8, 2013, hundreds of library supporters from across the country will meet in Washington, D.C., to discuss key library issues with their members of Congress. In preparation for next week’s 39th Annual National Library Legislative Day, the American Library Association today released new briefs on policies, legislation and issues impacting libraries.

For the first time, library advocates will have the option to learn about library issues through a series of  videos prepared by the ALA Washington Office.

Jeffrey Kratz gives a briefing on the Library Services & Technology Act and Innovative Approaches to Literacy for National Library Legislative Day 2013:

Jessica McGilvray gives a briefing on the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act for National Library Legislative Day 2013:

Marijke Visser gives a briefing on the E-rate for National Library Legislative Day 2013:

Read all of the issue briefs:

While you’re at National Library Legislative Day, remember to use the hashtag #nlld13.

About Jazzy Wright

Jazzy Wright is the Press Officer of the American Library Association's Washington Office. Email her at jwright@alawash.org.

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Posted in E-Rate, Events, Funding, Government Information

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Maureen Sullivan: President Obama’s Budget Gives Libraries $2 Million Boost

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Leave a comment
ALA President Maureen Sullivan

ALA President Maureen Sullivan

Today, President Barack Obama released the budget for the 2014 fiscal year, allocating $177 million for assistance to libraries through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

In response to President Obama’s 2014 budget request, American Library Association (ALA) President Maureen Sullivan released the following statement today:

“We congratulate President Obama for supporting our nation’s libraries and the work they do for their communities. The White House Office of Management and Budget has increased the amount of funding for libraries and recognizes the ways that libraries contribute to the economic recovery in their local communities.

While we are very pleased by the $2 million increase in funding for the Library Services and Technology Act, we know that libraries need more federal funding support to continue to be the thriving resource centers and technology hubs that millions rely on for assistance. Funding included in the budget is well below the amount of federal assistance that libraries received during the 2012 fiscal year. We hope the Obama Administration will provide libraries with even more support in the future.”

Read more from Sullivan on the budget

About Jazzy Wright

Jazzy Wright is the Press Officer of the American Library Association's Washington Office. Email her at jwright@alawash.org.

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Posted in Digital Literacy, Funding, OGR, Public Libraries, School Libraries

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Support library funding: Call your U.S. Rep. today

Posted on April 2, 2013 by | 6 Comments
Update: Deadline has passed, thanks for calling.

Appropriations season is heating up in Washington, DC and library funding is on the table. Please call your U.S. Representative by April 16 and ask that they sign a “Dear Colleague” letter in support of funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).LSTA is crucial for libraries because:

  • LSTA is the primary source of funding for libraries in the federal budget
  • LSTA helps many public libraries provide services to users that include, but are not limited to: job searches, résumé building help, digital literacy workshops, access to e-government services, etc.

To sign the LSTA letter, your Representative can contact the office of Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).

Please use our calling tool to make the call today. Upon entering your information you will

  • receive a call,
  • hear talking points,
  • and be directly connected to the DC office of your U.S. Representative.

About

Ted Wegner is the Grassroots Coordinator for ALA Washington Office's Office of Government Relations (OGR).

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Posted in Funding, Library Advocacy, OGR

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Sequestration Delayed

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | 1 Comment

At the thirteenth hour, Congress was able to pass and the President signed into law H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, avoiding a “fiscal cliff” in this new year.  (Please see previous DD post).  In this agreement, tax cuts were extended for all individuals making less than $400,000 and married couples making less than $450,000.  It also delays sequestration until March 1, 2013, which would enact an automatic 8.2 percent cut to all discretionary spending–including many federal library programs.  H.R. 8 also makes the following revisions to sequestration:

  1. Reduces the total amount of sequestration by $24 billion, reducing the total from $1.2 trillion to $1.176 trillion.
  2. Pays for the $24 billion reduction by 50 percent through spending cuts and 50 percent increased revenues.  It reduces the discretionary spending caps by $12 billion for FY 2013 and raises revenues from a provision concerning Roth IRAs by $12 billion.
  3. The $12 billion in discretionary cuts is achieved by cutting defense spending by $6 billion and nondefense discretionary (NDD), which includes federal library programs, spending by $6 billion.
  4. Thus, the actual percentage cut for NDD on March 1 (which the Office of Budget Management had projected at 8.2 percent) will be smaller.  However, since that cut will be from only seven months of spending left in the fiscal year instead of nine months,      proportionately it will have about the same real impact.

While H.R. 8 puts off the pain of sequestration for two months, we still do not know what will happen if sequestration goes into effect on March 1.

About Jeffrey Kratz

Jeffrey Kratz is the Assistant Director of ALA Washington Office's Office of Government Relations (OGR).

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Posted in Funding, OGR

Sen. Coburn Report Calls Effective Teen Reading Program “Wasteful Spending”

Posted on October 16, 2012 by | 3 Comments

Librarians and library supporters around the world have a deep knowledge and understanding of the vital role that public libraries play in every community. Unfortunately, there are many others that do not fully understand all of what public libraries can do. An example of that came today when Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report–titled “Wastebook 2012”—that included examples that Sen. Coburn believes are $18 billion worth of wasteful spending of federal taxpayer dollars over the last year.

Sen. Coburn took exception in his report with $365.00 of federal money for a recent teen Star Wars event at the Abington Public Library in Massachusetts. This event, where participants were encouraged to dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters, was designed to get teens into the public library and interested in reading and science. The event was educational in nature, and was designed to teach teens about the science behind Star Wars and help to develop their cognitive development, and reading and motor skills. This event was attended by more than 100 people, and resulted in the highest attendance for a Saturday that the Abington Public Library had ever seen.

The $365.00 was a small part of a $11,700 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) sub-grant that the Massachusetts Library Commission awarded to the Abington Public Library for two years of programming to expand services and to introduce at-risk-youth to their public library. The $365.00 used for the Star Wars event represented three percent of the total grant the library received.

In a time where American schools are being surpassed by other developed nations, attacking effective, creative, educational programs is not the way to get the United States back on top. The American Library Association would like to work further with Senator Coburn and his staff so he too can understand, just like librarians and library supporters, how libraries can better our communities. The very small amount of federal dollars used for the program was not waste, but was instead new and creative ways to get teens and young readers excited about public libraries, reading, and science.

According to IMLS, other programs used from the Library Services and Technology Act grant included:

  • Form or strengthen a Teen Advisory Board (TAB)
  • With input from the TAB, develop creative programming strategies to reach out and meet the needs of tweens and teens
  • Develop collections of materials including books, books on tape, CDs, magazines, games, graphic novels and DVDs; collections should be aligned, in part, with material needed by the middle/high school students as part of standards and curriculum frameworks.
  • Examine the library’s “teen space” and have it meet the goals set by the teen board. This may include limited redesign.

About Jeffrey Kratz

Jeffrey Kratz is the Assistant Director of ALA Washington Office's Office of Government Relations (OGR).

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Posted in Funding, Grants, OGR, Public Libraries, Washington Office News

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