WHERE WE ARE NOW.
OUR LIBRARIES ARE AT RISK FOR BUDGET CUTS, LOSS OF STAFF, LOSS OF OPERATING HOURS, AND LOSS OF BOOKS
- The Llano County Library System’s very existence is under threat. Llano County’s sitting county judge wrote in an email to a member of the library advisory board that “The board also needs to recognize that the county is not mandated by law to provide a public library.”
- Our libraries have eliminated evening hours and shut their doors on the weekends.
- Our county has previously been affected by budget cuts.
- The proposed county budget for the upcoming fiscal year shows a decrease in fund allocation to our library system
- Attrition has seen our libraries’ staff reduced from over a dozen to six current employees for the last 18 months.
- Our librarians are not adequately compensated.
- Our librarians have no support or incentive, financial or otherwise, to obtain appropriate professional education and credentialing that would improve their knowledge, skills, and lead to the betterment of our library system.
- Programming has been reduced or eliminated, including youth and elderly outreach.
- No books have been purchased for the Llano County Library System since October 2021. Even donated books have not been placed on library shelves.
Given what our past shows, and our present concerns, what does the future hold for our library system?
THE BUDGET
The Llano County Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Proposed Budget can be accessed here.
This proposed budget lists $22,441,407 in total expenditures, out of which the library system is allocated $448,501, which equates to 1.99% of the total budget.
For Fiscal Year 2021-2022, the adopted budget allocated $600,967, or 3.06% of the entire $19,624,854 to the library system, of which only $305,555 was spent.
IF WE DON'T HELP OUR LIBRARIES, WHO WILL??
No staff were replaced after termination or resignation, despite total employees decreasing from 13 to 8. No new books have been purchased since October 2021.
Despite a bigger county budget, our library is receiving a cut to funding, and allocated monies are not fully spent.
Our libraries are underfunded and under-supported.
Left unabated, this lack of support threatens our libraries’ very existence. To date we have seen:
• slashing of the libraries’ budget,
• a reduction of hours,
• endorsement of chronic staffing shortages, and
• a dearth of adequately certified and accredited librarians.
These cascading factors will lead to the demise of our libraries.
WE WILL SUPPORT OUR LIBRARY SYSTEM.
We will raise funds to improve operations and ensure survival of our library system. We will unite and advocate for more funding and more support.
This Foundation requires funds to build our endowment. Our aim is provide adjunct funding to improve our library system. The LCLSF exists to provide funding to sustain and build better libraries in perpetuity.