Libraries seeing room for optimism

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

June 29, 2009 11:46 pm

— Ashtabula County public libraries along with the rest of Ohio libraries are feeling slightly optimistic since the budget cut ax did not fall Monday morning.
“Senate just passed a continuing resolution on an interim budget which means the legislators have about another week to keep negotiating on the governor’s proposed budget bill,” said MacKenzie Betts, director of communications for the Ohio Library Council in Columbus.
Library staff and patrons all over the state have been making their voices heard in Columbus since Gov. Ted Strickland announced his proposed an extra 30 percent cut of federal funds to Ohio’s libraries on June 19.
“This delay is good news in the sense that it means the legislatures didn’t approve the governor’s proposal and that changes of the proposal are being discussed,” Betts said. “Hopefully this means good news for our libraries.”
Effective June 1, Ohio libraries already suffered a 20 percent cut, so the extra 30 percent would cut library funding in half, devastating Ohio libraries possibly causing some of them to close.
“To strike at our libraries is to strike at all people, this issue is not about librarians, but the people who depend on our services,” said Susan Hill, director of the Andover Public Library. “It is good that the legislators are wrangling with the budget a little longer.”
For more information look online at www.olc.org or www.saveohiolibraries.com