Library Director: Cuts Would Kick System Back to The '70s

Gov. Chris Christie's proposal won't just affect town and school budgets. Springfield's Public Library stands to lose significant state support with last week's proposed elimination of its reference database and interlibrary loan funding, as well as a 50 percent cut to state aid.

The proposed cuts, Springfield Library Director Susan Permahos said, would have a devastating impact on the library.

"Essentially, it would bring us back in time to the 1970s," Permahos said.

Submitted to the New Jersey Assembly on Tuesday, March 16, the bill A255 calls for the elimination of the 1/3 mil requirement, which establishes a minimum funding level for public libraries. Towns can fund above the minimum, which is not uncommon, but they cannot fund below it. The level is determined by assessing the value of a town or city's real estate.

But municipal funding isn't alone on the chopping block. Christie's budget proposal calls for the elimination of all (that's $1.4 million) of the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, a program administered by the State Library that makes valuable commercial reference databases, like ReferenceUSA, Business Source Premiere and Academic Search Premiere, available to academic and local libraries throughout the state and to the New Jersey business community.

Springfield's library would be one of 130 libraries to lose e-mail service. It would be one of 124 libraries that would lose their Web site.

Springfield is part of a network called Infolink that consists of Union, Middlesex, Hudson and Essex counties. This cooperative would disband, eliminating patron loans from the other library branches and discounted education opportunities for employees at member libraries.

The State Library would also lose all (that's almost $4.3 million) in network aid. If so, JerseyCat, the statewide online library catalog would likely cease to exist, putting an end to a statewide interlibrary loan system.

"We would once again become an isolated little library with no ability to interact with other library," Permahos said.

Springfield patrons would see a decrease in new materials for loan at the library due to Christie's proposed 50 percent cut to direct state aid. In a memo to library staff that was provided to Patch, Permahos said Springfield's library would lose at least half of its state aid.

In addition, the governor has proposed that the State Library and its affiliate, Thomas Edison College, be merged with the State Museum and governed by Rutgers University.

They are waiting for the New Jersey Library Association, the main advocacy group in the state on behalf of libraries, to advise.

"These are the most serious threats we have ever faced for New Jersey libraries," said an NJLA spokesperson.