Libraries across Alaska are scrambling after learning a key state grant was being slashed six weeks into the fiscal year. Small libraries stand to be hit the hardest and, in some cases, may be forced to close their doors entirely.
RELATED: Rural libraries struggle to cut services after state reduces grant
There’s no running water at the community library in Cooper Landing. The log cabin was built in the early 1980s and is next to the Kenai River, which rushes by on an early fall morning.
Inside, logs crackle in a wood stove while Virginia Morgan shows a patron how to use the library’s website. Morgan is the library’s volunteer director. In that role, she’s responsible for overseeing library operations and keeping the building running.
Cooper Landing sits on the bank of Kenai Lake and boasts about 220 year-round residents. Despite the town’s size, the library circulated 2,300 pieces of media last fiscal year, including 1,215 books, 515 videos and 206 ebooks. More than 150 people participated in library programs that year, from book clubs to author visits.
Over the last two weeks, though, Morgan’s job has also included advocacy.
That’s after the state announced it will reduce funding for library operating grants by nearly 75% this fiscal year from more than half a million dollars to $150,000.
Multiple librarians have criticized how the state broke the news — in an email that began with well wishes and season’s greetings. Morgan says she almost missed it.
“If we knew there was only $150,000 even going into this program, I mean, we should have known that before the informal notification on the 16th of August,” Morgan said.
State lawmakers created the Public Library Assistance grant program in 1981. The program used to award grants up to $10,000 and required a local match for any award over $5,000. In 1998, that maximum amount was reduced to $7,000.
In recent years, libraries around the state have received $7,000 a year from the program. Awardees are required to match that amount. For smaller libraries, that match usually comes in the form of volunteer hours and community fundraisers.
Near the Cooper Landing library’s front desk, Craig Mullett scans a wall of DVDs. He’s a part-time resident of the unincorporated town, and says the library is as much about community as it is checking out media.
“To me, a library is a lot more than a place with bookshelves,” Mullett said. “It’s a place where people meet each other, it’s a place where you can get on the computer if you’re having trouble with your Wi Fi, you can maybe get involved in local community stuff — in, like, volunteer activities.”
Mullett is one of many people who’s worried about the library’s future. Some smaller libraries say the loss of grant funds could mean the difference between staying open and closing their doors.
Cindy Mom chairs the Seldovia Public Library Board. Seldovia is located south of Homer and can only be accessed by boat or plane.
“We could continue to operate the way we have been on the PLA for two or three years, but then we have nothing in reserve,” Mom said.
Mom says the loss will impact the 90-year-old library’s ability to buy materials and offer services. Many residents and visitors use the library’s internet and telephones because Verizon is the only carrier that works in town.
“I’m the one right now who gets to decide what we buy, and I have a long wish list that I was excited about, and now I can’t buy anything, and I also can’t buy the things that people suggest,” she said. “So we take recommendations from folks of things they want to see in the collection and can’t do it. So that’s very frustrating.”
In Ninilchik, it’s a similar story.
Director Heather Smith says their 72-year-old library’s annual operating budget is between $30,000 and $40,000. That means the state grant combined with the library’s match requirement makes up roughly half of its annual operating budget. As in Cooper Landing, Smith says the community library is about more than checking out materials.
“We also have members of the community that might not have a warm place at home during the winter, and they come here, and they come in here to sit, have a cup of coffee, use the internet, and, you know, just feel like they are a part of the community, and that would be lost,” Smith said.
The library already reduced its hours this month. Without the grant funding, Smith says they’ll have to shut their doors this winter.
The dramatic decrease in library grant funding isn’t due to a gubernatorial veto or legislative vote.
Instead, it has to do with internal budgeting. In emails to librarians and state lawmakers, the Department of Education and Early Development, or DEED, says annual grant amounts depend on the amount of money available for the program and the number of libraries that apply.
This year, the division says it only had $150,000 to give out to 82 libraries and library branches, down from more than half a million dollars in recent fiscal years.
It’s not clear why the funding was cut.
Multiple department and division employees did not respond to specific questions about the reduction and where the money is being spent instead. A public information request for the division’s budget for the current fiscal year has also not been filled.
The state doesn’t have designated funding for the library assistance grants. Although the grant’s been steadily awarded at the max amount of $7,000 per library branch in recent years, there’s no designated fund for the program.
Still, librarians said they’ve come to rely on the funding each year. This year’s reduction wasn’t announced until mid-August — six weeks into the fiscal year.
“The $7,000 was usually a guarantee, and that was how we paid our actual bills and made sure that we would have electricity and all of that throughout the year,” Smith said. “The other money comes up from just donations. That is something that we, on a regular basis, have to fight for monthly.”
Last fiscal year, the state program gave money to 79 libraries, roughly half of which had annual budgets less than $50,000. Another dozen libraries had budgets less than $14,000.
Librarians aren’t the only ones looking for solutions.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche echoed the library’s concerns at Tuesday’s borough Assembly meeting.
“What they don’t understand is libraries all over the state run with volunteers that give their time every day to keep them running, and that $7,000 evaporating is the end of the world for most of our rural libraries,” he said.
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, a Republican from Nikiski, went to the meeting as well. He said the Legislature fully funded the library division and the decision to cut grant funding was internal.
“We have not been able to identify why that money left that program or where it went to only that the money was not given initially to that grant program,” Bjorkman said.
Some librarians say they won’t need to shut down tomorrow. But they are making other arrangements.
In Cooper Landing, volunteers are preparing to draw from savings and up their ask through the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s Community Assistance Program. They’ve also sent out a letter to the community, explaining the situation and issuing a call to action.
Morgan, the library director, is optimistic.
“In reality, yes, we will find a way, I guarantee you, because … we have dedicated volunteers,” she said. “We have a dedicated community who knows the value of our library.”
In a Tuesday letter to state lawmakers, DEED Commissioner Deena Bishop said the library division is looking at where they can make up the grant funding within the budget.
