Pennsylvania libraries feeling pressures of continued funding cuts; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/28/14

Matt Nussbaum, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pennsylvania libraries feeling pressures of continued funding cuts:

"The cuts are not unique to the rural counties of the southwest. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have lost almost 50 percent of their state library funds in recent years. A program run by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Free Library of Philadelphia that serves blind and handicapped residents statewide has not seen a funding increase in over 12 years, according to Mary Frances Cooper, director and president of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh has been able to maintain relatively steady levels of funding because of an advantage most places do not enjoy: In 2011, Pittsburgh voters endorsed a Carnegie Library Tax to be added to their property tax bills. In 2013, that 0.25-mill tax generated about $4 million for the library. Money from Allegheny County's 1 percent Regional Asset District sales tax has also protected Pittsburgh and its suburbs from the worst of the cuts.

"The property tax was really never meant to supplant the revenue streams we've had in the past," said Ms. Cooper. "Years ago, states recognized that this was an important institution and that there was some obligation on the part of the state" to fund it.

While surrounding counties' librarians might cast an envious eye toward Allegheny County, officials pointed out that Pennsylvania is disadvantaged compared with neighboring states, just as surrounding counties are disadvantaged to Allegheny.

Ohio's state budget provided public libraries with about $344 million in 2012.

"Ohio has amazingly great state funding," said Ms. Cooper.

The 2013-14 Pennsylvania budget provided a $53.5 million public library subsidy, marking the ninth straight year in which the subsidy had held steady or fallen. Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed an increase, which would bring it to just over $54 million."