Pennsylvania: State Budget Impasse Forces Elizabethtown Public Library to Reduce Hours

From LancasterOnline:

Uncertainty over the state budget impasse is forcing the Elizabethtown Public Library to reduce its hours starting January.
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The cost-saving measure is expected to reduce paid hours for all 20 staff members, Drury said. No layoffs are expected, but librarians, clerical workers who handle passport applications and coffee shop employees will be among those affected, [library director Donna Drury] said.
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Funding from the state and local municipalities accounts for less than half of its budget. About 60 percent of the Elizabethtown library’s budget is generated from several sources, including fees for processing passports, background checks, an on-site coffeehouse, fines and donations.
But libraries are not guaranteed to receive a certain dollar amount from the state each year. The library, which is a nonprofit, has a budget of around $550,000 for 2015.
Drury, who has led the library for 15 years, said the Elizabethtown library has endured “cut after cut” during the state budgetmaking process going back to 2008. For example, as a result of less state funding, the library’s budget dropped from approximately $613,000 in 2013 to roughly $550,000 in 2015, she said.

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See Also: Tested by budget battle and funding cuts, Pa. libraries buckle (via PennLive.com)
Includes embed of official announcement from Elizabethtown Public Library.

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Public Libraries