FARMINGTON -- With the passage of the 2015 Revenue Stabilization Act, the Arkansas Legislature has cut state monies to area libraries almost 23 percent of their anticipated state funding with little or no warning, according to a survey of area librarians.
"We certainly were not expecting any increase in our state funding, given the nature of the economy, but never did I imagine we would have this deep a cut in funding," said Dianna Payne, director of Lincoln Public Library.
Her surprise was echoed by Farmington Librarian Rachel Stump and Iva Sorrell, librarian of Prairie Grove Public Library.
The cuts in expected state funding have also caused Glenda Audrain, the Washington County Library System's manager/librarian, to refigure all budgets for those facilities funded through the Washington County Library System.
State funding for libraries in the Washington County System come to Audrain, whose central office doles out the proceeds on an annual basis.
Those individual libraries receiving state funds include full-time libraries in Farmington, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, West Fork, Elkins, Springdale plus two part-time public libraries at Winslow and Greenland.
Each of the full-time libraries that are open at least 32 hours each week will face a cut of approximately $6,500, Audrain said. These are facilities with their own governing boards.
The reduction equals about $500 a month in the library operations at each facility for a year, Audrain said.
In Farmington, Stump said she would have to purchase fewer books and DVDs for checkout than planned.
"This is very disappointing," she said. "We are not prepared for about a five percent cut to our overall budget. But this is a major cut to our planned purchases of books and DVDs." Stump also said the cuts may have to come from her programming budget at the library.
"That will be the real tragedy to these unexpected cuts,"
General News on 04/15/2015