Michael Kelley, Library Journal; Proposed Budget in Texas Nearly Zeros Out Key State Library Funds:
""A wholesale slaughter"
The proposed budget would eliminate:
• direct aid grants to public libraries statewide by reducing the Loan Star Libraries program's funding from $16.2 million in FY10/11 to $100,000 in FY12/13;
• all state funding for TexShare, a collaboration established in the early 1980s among public and academic libraries administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission that provides access at a reduced price to online resources, from $9.5 million to $600,000. This also would eliminate the K-12 database program for Texas public schools and their libraries...
The proposal would also eliminate the state law library and put at risk about $8 million in Institute of Museum and Library Services funds, which are the sole funding source for the state's regional library systems and interlibrary loan (ILL), because Texas would fall below the "maintenance of effort" threshold that is a requirement for the federal money.
"It's a wholesale slaughter," Peggy Rudd, the state librarian, told LJ. "I've worked in three states, and I have never seen a starting point like this for budget negotiations."
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