BOSTON, MA — On January 27, 2016 Governor Charlie Baker released his FY2017 budget recommendations. After removing $124,000 in earmarks to individual libraries in the FY2016 budget, state funding to libraries is level funded to FY2016 totals. In a climate where libraries are struggling to maintain network membership and the statewide resource sharing system is at risk, this was not welcome news for the library community.
Level funding to Technology and Resource Sharing (account 7000-9506) means that the $652,674 cut to this line in the FY2016 budget remains. This cut forced the MBLC to reduce funding that supports the nine automated library networks and the Small Libraries in Networks program by 25%. This is likely to cause either an increase in the membership fees libraries pay to belong to a network or a scaling back of the services networks are able to offer to their library members. Libraries in the Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing Network have already received notice that membership fees will increase between 6% to as much as 15% for individual libraries.
Libraries pay a membership fee to belong to an automated library network, which gives their residents access to more than 53 million items from libraries across the Commonwealth.
The MBLC’s administrative account (7000-9101), reduced by 4 % in the FY2016 budget, will be running a deficit by the end of this fiscal cycle. The Governor’s recommendation means that the MBLC administrative account will be below the 2001 level.
Per capita funding to Library for the Commonwealth was reduced to 39.4 from 40.7. Library for the Commonwealth is instrumental in providing statewide services including digitization, eBooks, and streaming audio and video for all residents of the Commonwealth.
The library community has made saving statewide resource sharing the priority for the FY2017 Legislative Agenda and has requested increases in the budget lines that make resource sharing possible.
The House of Representatives is set to release its budget in April, followed by the Senate budget in May. After each chamber votes on its budget, a conference committee is formed to determine the final FY2017 funding levels.
| Line Item No. | Line Item | High | FY2016 Budget |
2017 Budget Request | 2017 Governor’s Budget |
| 7000-9101 | Board of Library Commissioners | $1,229,472
(FY2001) |
$1,077,431 | $1,225,000
|
$1,077,431 |
| 7000-9401 | State Aid to Regional Libraries | $17,623,954
(FY2002) |
$9,938,482 | $10,940,475 | $9,883,482 |
| 7000-9402 | Talking Book Library (Worcester) | $446,828
(FY2016) |
$446,828 | $460,233 | $446,828 |
| 7000-9406 | Talking Book & Machine Lending (Perkins) | $2,516,693
(FY2016) |
$2,516,693 | $2,592,194 | $2,516,693 |
| 7000-9501 | State Aid to Public Libraries | $9,989,844
(FY2009) |
$9,029,000 | $13,500,000 | $9,000,000 |
| 7000-9506 | Library Technology & Resource Sharing | $4,420,235
(FY2001) |
$2,116,564 | $6,000,000 | $2,076,564 |
| 7000-9508 | MA Center for the Book | $200,000
(FY2016) |
$200,000 | $206,000 | $200,000 |
(NOTE: The above news release is from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.)
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