Save Illinois Libraries

Posted by eileen on January 20, 2010

from http://www.saveillinoislibraries.com/about/

In response to the looming budget crisis in Illinois, legislators in the Illinois General Assembly passed a budget to cut back on expenses. Among the expenses cut were 50% of general revenue grants awarded through the General Revenue Fund. Among other things, those grants are used to award per capita grants to public schools and libraries, and to entirely fund the Illinois library systems, which provide vital services to libraries of all types: public and school libraries, but also college libraries, business libraries, and more.

To mitigate the damages these 50% cuts would have done, Secretary of State Jesse White, under whose budget the system funding and per capita grants fall, reallocated federal money from the Library Services and Technology Act grants — money that would normally go towards new initiatives and technological advancement at public and state libraries — to restore some of the General Revenue grants. The resultant cuts to the grants were 16.5% to library systems, 16% to public libraries, and 3% to public schools.

While the library community is grateful that the cuts were not as deep as they could have been, and while we recognize that these cuts may seem minor compared to what some state agencies have faced, we nonetheless need to let our legislators know that Illinois libraries cannot face more cuts in the future. Additionally, we need to make sure the governor and comptroller stand behind that budget, and get what funds were budget out to the institutions that need them.

Today, January 20, go to http://saveillinoislibraries.com to instantly email a letter to Governor Quinn and Comptroller Hynes.  You just need to put in your name and email address.  Thank you for your continued support of Illinois’ libraries!