By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
With the state budget still tangled in uncertainty, Library Director Michael Penrod is certain about one thing: the Wood County District Public Library and other libraries in the state will be getting less money.
The budget is being hashed out in a conference committee.
Penrod told the library’s trustees Monday both the House and Senate changed the way the state funds the Public Library Fund from a formula based on the state’s general revenue to a set line item. In his proposal, Gov. DeWine maintained the formula. The House changed it, and the Senate retained the change.
Now instead of the state payments varying depending on how much revenue the state is taking in, the monthly checks will be the same amount. And that will be less than what the library has received.
“It’s fundamentally changing how we view our state funding, because our state funding was an estimate. It ebbed and flowed,” Penrod said. “It’s going to be a very different way for us to look at the budget moving forward.”
That change will take effect on July 1.
Penrod said when Public Library Fund checks came in above the library’s conservative estimate, the excess was socked away to pay for needed capital expenses. Whether it’s a new roof for the Carter House (work now being complete) or a new heating system. Those projects have been paid without having to borrow money.
The Public Library Fund had gotten 1.7 percent of state revenue. That’s fluctuated over the years with a downward trend, so state library funding has been flat.
The WCDPL received $1.75 million through the fund, its largest source of funding. The library generates $1.1 million from its local levy.
Penrod noted that an economic development analysis showed that every dollar spent on the library generates $5.21 in economic value in the community, a total impact of $16 million annually For the entire county, every dollar spent generates $4.99, a total impact of $48 million.
The Senate set a line item for the state’s libraries at $490 million, but also used that to pay for related state institutions that had been funded separately.
That puts greater emphasis on private fundraising to support the WCDPL.
Tickets for the library’s biggest fundraiser Novel Night, set for July 17, are now on sale. The live and silent auction brought in $130,000 last year, all of which is spent on materials.
“What Novel Night does for us is very important,” Penrod said. “It’s not just extra. It’s actually key to our ability to give the community the level of resources in our collections that they have become used to.”
Those resources include the online book service Hoopla, which allows patrons to borrow books, magazines, movies and other materials.
The service, as of May 1 has 722 active users, 104 more than last year, who have borrowed 3,962 items, 854 more than last year, reported Assistant Director Michele Raine.
“We’re getting really good use of the platform on a monthly basis,” she said. But the library is charged by how much circulation there is, so the cost of the service, which is free to patrons, is going up. The board discussed possible limits on borrowing.
Trustee Kris James said as a teacher, the service is valuable. Rather than the school buying 20 books, the students can sign onto Hoopla and all borrow it. Unlike some other services, there is not a limit on the number of copies of an item to borrow.
