Impact of Senate Bill 850

On May 06, 2009 the Pennsylvania Senate passed its version of the 2010 State Budget. The following letter shows what will happen to Pennsylvania libraries including The Green Free Library, if this Bill is approved by the House of Representatives and finally the General Assembly.


Senate Bill 850 cuts $42 million directly from public library budgets.

This amount equals the total spent on all materials by all libraries in one year.

($37million in subsidy + $5 million in statewide card)


State Aid to Public Libraries Subsidy Reduced by Half from $75,137,000 to $37,000,000


The State Aid to Public Libraries Subsidy will be cut in half.
This funding represents 25% of total operating revenues.


If this SB850 is enacted it will reduce the average library’s total revenues by 12.5%.

For libraries more heavily state funded the loss will be more significant.
For example, 21% of libraries will lose between 25% and 39% of their total revenues.


The library subsidy has not been this low since 1998-1999.
Yet since that year, library lending increased 30% to 70 million items loaned each year.

Taking inflation into account the subsidy level will be back to the 1995-1996 level.

This will reduce the budgets of public libraries in the state at a time when libraries are being used more than ever before.


The loss of subsidy funding will reduce hours, reduce staff, reduce books, reduce access to jobs, reduce access to e-government resources, reduce access to children’s programming.
1,000+ library employees will lose their jobs
500,000 fewer books will be available.
Library hours will be reduced by 10% making it difficult for job seekers, business people, students and parents to find the information they need to succeed in this difficult economy.
Children's programming will be cut, affecting their reading readiness
Parents at risk will no longer have infant and toddler programs geared to their needs.


Keystone Recreation, Park & Conservation Fund - $2,525,000 Eliminated

This is the only source of construction/renovation funding for public libraries.


The need far exceeds the available funding.
42% of libraries were built before 1952 and are in need of accessibility and energy efficiency improvements.
$335 million is needed to meet planned construction needs through 2013.


The Keystone funds act as an economic stimulus by requiring matching funds.
To date $30 million in Keystone funds funded 237 projects. With the required match that’s $97million invested in libraries.
Keystone funds supported library construction in every library district statewide
Without this funding, major construction projects will be stalled
Without this funding, smaller projects such as ADA access will not be attempted


Library Access Appropriation - $7,000,000 Eliminated

This appropriation funds three programs:

1. Ends the POWER Library


The POWER Library has provided vetted on-line resources through school and public libraries since 1998. POWER provides a common denominator of authenticated information across the Commonwealth on subject areas of recognized value to students, parents, adults, seniors and entrepreneurs.


§ It was the first program to open the door of our libraries making resources available 24/7.


§ POWER provided 50 million searches in 2008 from 3,000 libraries, a 32% increase in one year.


§ Every school district and state aided library receives POWER


§ It would cost every school and public library $40,000 to purchase the POWER package. For many of our schools, the POWER Library is the only vetted resource that supports information literacy and the Classrooms for the Future program.


§ Therefore, students and others will not have resources needed for homework, job training and job announcements and current information on health and economics. This will be especially hard felt in rural areas.


§ POWER provides unique, vital support for classroom and individual research and has taken 11 years of concerted effort to organize, purchase and train librarians, teachers and the public in their use.


§ Eliminating this program eliminates all back issues of journals, magazines or any of the online newspapers and research that libraries now offer. Where will students go to complete homework assignments?

§ Eliminating this program would be a devastating reduction to libraries’ capacity to serve. Reinstating it once ended, would be exceedingly costly in rebuilding the training and administrative infrastructure of the program.


2. Ends Reciprocal Borrowing


The Statewide Library Card Program makes it possible for Pennsylvanians to borrow books from libraries other than their local library thereby erasing borders between libraries.


§ Without this program, Pennsylvanians would no longer be able to borrow freely from libraries across the state. Instead they will have to purchase a library card from each library.


§ Of the 70,000,000 items circulated each year, a full 24% or 17,000,000 are borrowed from other than the patron’s home library.


§ At the time when libraries are used most heavily and recognized for the economic saving to families, families and individuals will have no option but to purchase a library card from each library they use.


§ Because libraries are compensated for a portion of the cost of serving residents statewide, libraries will lose this income source that strengthens collections statewide.


§ This comes at a time when local resources are decreasing and use is increasing in historic numbers. Borrowing under this program increased by 3,000,000 in 2008.


3. Interlibrary Delivery Service – Membership Cost Doubles


§ A portion of the Library Access appropriation subsidizes the cost for individual school, public and academic libraries’ membership in a statewide delivery program which moves 2,000,000 books to students and residents statewide. Books delivered increased by 120,000 in 2008.


§ With the elimination of this appropriation, membership costs are expected to double. For too many libraries membership costs will become unaffordable thus cutting off their students and patrons from valuable, statewide resource sharing across types of libraries


Electronic Library Catalog Reduced by Half from $3,542,000 to $1,771,000


This Appropriation funds three programs.


1. Ends Ask Here PA Virtual Reference


Ask Here PA is an online reference service that enables Pennsylvanians to communicate anytime of the day or night with a professional library online in order to find answers to research questions.


§ The service operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and is the only safe, authoritative option for students and all others to receive assistance from professional librarians when their libraries are closed.


§ This is a two-year old program, which increased 42% in usage over last year.


§ The Ask Here PA program currently answers 10,000 questions per month, half of which are from K-12 students.


§ Most unfortunately, this popular program would be eliminated before it reached its full potential.


2. The Access Pennsylvania Database loses Currency


This database contains the combined collections of more than 3,018 school, public, academic and special libraries statewide. The database provides access to more than 71 million volumes representing approximately 17 million unique titles. The catalog enables Pennsylvanians to find and order books from anywhere in the Commonwealth.


§ The proposed reduction would drastically reduce the currency of holdings on the database from real time updates from some libraries and quarterly updates from others to a greatly reduced updating schedule.


o Students lose access to current reading materials not available in their own libraries.


This resource sharing tool has been built and maintained over the past 25 years and is the most frequently consulted finding tool in Pennsylvania for requesting up to date books and media.




3. Eliminate the Access PA Millennium System


This shared library management system serves over 75 school and public libraries who otherwise cannot afford to maintain their own book circulation and cataloging systems. This program saves libraries an estimated $1,125,000 per year.


This system ends for existing users
This cost saving option is lost at a time when library budgets are strained.




Thank you for reading how Senate Bill 850 will impact PA libraries. Now let be just reiterate on how it will effect The Green Free Library.

The Green Free Library uses the Millennium System for Cataloging, Circulation and its online card catalog. If the program is cut, the library would have to pay full cost for the system, instead of receiving a reduced rate. The increase in this cost will result in fewer books being purchased, and fewer programs being offered.

The Green Free Library provides access to Power Library for its patrons at no cost. This is a very valuable reference tool used by homeschoolers, students, writers, and other interested parties seeking reference materials. These resources are in danger of being eliminated.

Inter-library loans-The Green Free Library offers free ILL's to established patrons who reside within its service area. If State funding is cut, the library will be forced to either discontinue this service, or charge a postage fee.

Loss of more funding may result in a decrease in library hours, fees for special services, decrease in aquisitions of materials, and staff cuts.

What can you do to help prevent this loss of funding and services?

Contact your State Representative abd ask him to vote NO! Please call, write or E-mail today, abd ask everyone you know to do the same.

Hon. Matthew E. Baker
74 Main Street
Wellsboro, PA 16901
(570) 724-1390
Fax: (570) 724-2168

Hon. Matthew E. Baker
115 Ryan Office Building
PO Box 202068
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2068
(717) 772-5371
Fax: (717) 705-1850

mbaker@pahousegop.com

And even though its already passed the Senate, why not let our Senator know what you think of this Bill.

Senate Box 203025
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3025
292 Capitol Building
(717) 787-7084

315 Second Avenue
Suite 203
Warren, PA 16365
(814) 726-7201

jscarnati@pasen.gov


Thank you for your support.