" Librarians are organized and notes go out whenever there is a lobbying day in Albany, believe me. We've already been hit, in this fiscal year too. Libraries put in for Coordinated Collection Development money -- so, Ithaca will use the money to buy music books, Wells will buy women's studies, etc -- then share them, the idea being that each library agrees to collect in a certain area so EVERY library doesn't have to buy the same books.

Well, we were promised a certain amount. We still always wait to be sure the State is going to pass the budget. They did, so the money is usually on the way in a couple weeks, but we wait again -- just to be safe. They send out a note confirming the checks are on the way, we can start spending money on the orders which have been building up. Except the checks never came. Then we get a very late note from the State saying we'll get the checks they said were on the way but weren't, but they will be reduced. That did finally happen, and luckily for us, we had not committed to purchase more than they actually sent.

That's no big deal -- we can work around it, though it was poopy of them to not tell us until so late, after telling us it was on the way.

But funding which affects everyone concerns the NYS NOVEL program, through which every resident of the State of New York can use a group of databases for free. Several were cut this year, but the program SEEMS to have survived because libraries had had an independent consulting firm in a couple years ago to study the impact of the availability of these resources on all kinds of groups in our State. The evidence of the benefit they provide was so strong, that even in these awful economic times, the program is continuing, though slightly reduced. They are keeping business data, basic K-12 resources and dropping most of the health info, as one can now get much good info free on the net in general.

But you are right, brew -- public libraries count on taxes to support them, and the money is dwindling. Yet libraries are where those without money can get access to the Internet, and to information they need to hunt for a job, health info when they can't afford a doctor, etc. "

" You had better start lobbying the local government for library funding. All these state and local budget cuts are going to hit your libraries first. So act now before they start slashing. "