Written by John Cheves and Daniel Desrochers of the Herald-Leader
House Republicans cut $2.5 million in direct aid for local libraries from their version of the state budget, unveiled last Thursday, potentially closing small libraries that depend on it in some of Kentucky’s poorest rural communities.
Not only did the House GOP majority reduce overall library aid from the $7.8 million proposed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to $5.3 million, they added restrictive language requiring all remaining funds to be spent only on construction.
Such a cut would have a disproportionate impact on rural libraries with little revenue of their own. The Ballard-Carlisle County Public Library gets nearly all of its budget from state aid, according to the Kentucky Library Association. For the Hickman County library, state aid makes up 57 percent of the budget. For Knott County’s library, it’s 23 percent. For Livington County’s library, it’s 22 percent.
“We know that our legislators have a tough job to do with the budget,” said Mark Adler, director of the Paris-Bourbon County Public Library and president-elect of the Kentucky Library Association.
“They may not really understand how devastating this loss would be to libraries in some of our neediest communities, where people depend on us not just for books but also for classes, GED exams, free Internet access and all sorts of services they can’t necessarily get anywhere else,” Adler said.
(Cross-posted via the Kentucky Press News Service. Read the rest of the article at the Herald-Leader.)
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