“The proposed budget cut is about $1.00 for each New Jersey resident.”
According to the director of my county library consortium The average local budgetary contribution to libraries is over $67 per resident.
In other words the proposed cut in state aid is about 1.5% of the library budgets.
I’m a heavy user and supporter of my local library, but at this point I think that they are “crying wolf”.
In other words the proposed cut in state aid is about 1.5% of the library budgets.
I’m a heavy user and supporter of my local library, but at this point I think that they are “crying wolf”.
I will admit there is a lot of "crying wolf" as you say and I do support Christie with a lot of these cuts (even to libraries). Just to clarify, the $1.00 is the state budget thing; the $67.00 is local. The state library cooperative programs include JerseyCat, a database that makes it possible to search the catalogs of multiple libraries in the state. Very useful if your county library system does not have that out-of-print book that you want. Trouble is, the state cooperative also pays to ship that book to your library so you can borrow it. When I suggested that people pay a small fee to help with interlibrary loan shipping I was almost run out of the building. The budget will and should be cut. But I just don't want it to be wiped out. When the cuts go into effect, I'll bring up that shipping cost idea again and maybe I won't have to duck and cover when I do.