It must be that season again, because it’s time to get going with sign it Friday! That’s right, it’s your weekly call to take 10 minutes to speak up for libraries around the country. No excuses, they are all listed right here.
State
New York
Tell your state reps that flat library funding isn’t good enough. State Education Law mandates Library Aid be $102.6M for the upcoming year – current funding of $91.6M is inadequate!
Massachusetts
Since 2001, funding for the four line items supporting library Resource Sharing have been cut drastically and together are down 30%. Resource sharing allows libraries across the state to save money and provide better service to teh people of Massachusetts. NOT COOL. Take action here.
Nebraska
Library boards should not be political agencies. They are entrusted with the safekeeping of libraries and need stability to function. Allowing Municipalities to move the library board to an advisory capacity takes the community out of the library. Another NOT COOL.
Local
Harlem Council of Elders – NYC School Libraries
77% of middle and high schools in Harlem[1]—27 out of 35 district secondary schools, across Community School Districts 3, 4, 5, and 6—are not providing access to certified school library media specialists, a clear violation of students’ educational rights under New York State law. It’s unacceptable that any secondary school in NYS not have a librarian, but this is pretty egregious. The state not only needs to make sure that NYC school libraries, particularly in historically under served communities HAVE librarians, they also need to provide the funding to make that happen.
Do you have a petition you’d like to see in Sign It Friday? Shoot the link over to urbanlibrariansunite@gmail.com!