Florida Library Association.
NEWS.
Libraries Puzzled at Veto In Light of Service to Floridians.
May 25, 2006.
Contacts: Ruth O’Donnell Executive Director, FLA (850) 668-6911 flaexecutivedirector@comcast.net
TALLAHASSEE – Today Florida Governor Jeb Bush vetoed a $2.2 million supplemental library appropriation for Florida public libraries. State funding for Florida’s public libraries has decreased by $1.6 million dollars (from $33.4 million to $31.8 million) in recent years. The vetoed appropriation would have helped make up for inflation and the cost of serving millions of new residents. “We do not understand why the Governor would veto funding for Florida’s public libraries,” said Sol Hirsch, President of the Florida Library Association. “Libraries work hard to support the Governor’s priorities, state agencies, and programs. We had no indication from the Governor’s Office that there were problems all session and frankly we were surprised. We want to thank the many legislators who worked hard for this appropriation and we look forward to working with them next year.” Public libraries support the Governor’s priorities and state programs in a number of ways, including the following.
Early Child Learning – Libraries work with parents, very young children, and care providers to ensure that young children begin the process of learning to read at an early age and are ready to learn when they reach school.
Reading – Public libraries circulate over 95 million items annually and actively support statewide reading initiatives.
Education – Public libraries provide information resources and assistance to students in the state’s schools, home schooled children, individuals enrolled in higher education, and adults engaged in lifelong learning.
Emergency Operations – Library staff are active participants in local government emergency operations, supporting hurricane and emergency recovery efforts.
Department of Children and Families – When DCF closed regional offices, residents needing help were directed to public libraries where staff help them use library computers to sign up for services online.
Early Voting Sites – Public libraries will play a major role in early voting this fall since only public libraries, city halls and supervisors of elections offices can be used as early voting sites. Floridians love to use their public libraries as the following statistics demonstrate.
Library card holders – 8.7 million
Library visits – 70,233,253 million or 3.98 per capita
Items circulated – 95 million – 23.9 million by youth
Programs – 2.9 million youth attended 97,358 programs
Computers provided – 8,344 Computer users – Almost 14 million
Computer users trained – 1.3 million
Visits to library websites – 51 million Statistics from 2005 Florida Library Directory With Statistics (covers 2003-04) ~ ~ ~
Jeb Bush with Katherine Harris, former Sec. of State and formerly over the State Library of Florida and George Bush prior to May 2006 fundraising.
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Continuing his efforts to cuts undercut Florida’s libraries Jeb Bush cut much library support in the state’s budget.
Bush also trumpeted nearly $300 million in tax cuts accounted for in the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, particularly noting the elimination of a tax on stock and bond holdings, which he called an “evil, insidious tax.”