Public Libraries in Delaware Face Budget Cuts

From the Dover Post:

Libraries across the state are bracing to get hit with a double whammy of budget cuts on the state and federal levels.
Dover Public Library director Margie Cyr said it’s “utterly frightening” because state funding for her library covers 100 percent of all programs, plus “78 percent of the cost of all of the books that we buy.”
Annie Norman, director of Delaware Division of Libraries, said the proposed budget cuts could affect staffing at some libraries. “It’s going to be really painful,” Norman said. “Everyone was already having to cut back during the recession, and now we’re facing it again. We haven’t caught our breath.”
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With statewide budget cuts on the horizon, the director of DDL said that would make things harder for the 588 public library staffers. More than half are full-time.
At the moment, Norman said, staffing is “kind of barebones.”
“There’s almost half a million Delawareans who have library cards. And even more than that are coming to use the services,” Norman said. “We get about 4 million statewide visits a year. Libraries are struggling with the small staff that they have.”

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Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Public Libraries