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This editorial in the Hartford Courant advocates for the state budget to not slash the money allocated for the borrowIT CT/deliverIT CT program (formerly known as CCar). Please take a minute to read this editorial. As always, we greatly appreciate the support our community gives to the library!
Editorial: Library Cut Too Deep
With
state finances in such rough shape, everyone knows that some
state-funded programs must go. But Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed
cutting all funding — a relatively small amount — for a wildly popular
and invaluable program that lets people take out materials from any
public library in the state. That’s a cut too deep.
The
state invested about $781,000 in the “borrowIT CT” program (formerly
known as Connecticard, such a better name) last year. The governor’s proposed budget for next year slashes that to zero.
What does it pay for?
Consider
a library patron in Glastonbury who goes into the venerable
Welles-Turner Memorial Library on Main Street looking for a recent John
Grisham novel, but all copies have been checked out. Hartford Public
Library, though, has a copy on the shelf.
Thanks
to the borrowIT program, the person in Glastonbury can either drive to
the Hartford library and pick up the book, or they can request that the
book be sent to Welles-Turner, where they can pick it up in a day or
two. The Connecticut State Library, though the “deliverIT CT” program (formerly “Connecticar”), handles the transportation.
The service is especially valuable in towns that neighbor larger cities or those that serve as regional libraries. In 2017,
more than 8,000 items were loaned from Hagaman Memorial Library in East
Haven to patrons from New Haven — often children or adults with low
incomes who cannot easily access the New Haven Free Public Library but
are within walking distance of the East Haven library.
The
borrowIT program compensates the loaning libraries for the costs
associated with essentially providing services to people from out of
town — staff time, operations time, the cost of materials. Once a year,
libraries submit figures to the state detailing how many items they
loaned though the service, and the pool of money is split among them
proportionally. For some libraries in high demand, that money adds up —
sometimes tens of thousands of dollars to supplement their own materials
budgets.
The
deliverIT program is supported by a federal grant of about $400,000
that is available only if the state maintains a program such as
borrowIT. Without enough borrowIT funding in place, the grant could be in jeopardy. Eliminating the borrowIT funding could mean the end of inter-library loan in Connecticut.
What a shame the idea is even being entertained.
Through the borrowIT CT program,
nearly 3.9 million items were loaned to non-residents last year. The
numbers have slipped a bit since the peak of the recession in 2010, when
nearly 5 million items were loaned. But since the program was founded
in the mid-1970s, about 140 million loans have been reported.
The deliverIT program estimates
that it moves 15,000 items a day, making an average of 848 stops per
week, and has served more than 1.5 million patrons. The state library
estimates that it has saved some $9 million in postage if those items
had been mailed.
Legislators
show their priorities by how they spend their money. Far better for
Connecticut to be known as a place with first-class libraries than as a
place with overly generous benefits for state employees.
The
state budget should include enough funding for the borrowIT program so
that the federal grant isn’t jeopardized. A strong library system is an
essential part of the suite of services that makes people want to stay
in Connecticut — or even move here.
Copyright © 2017, Hartford Courant
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