5.6. LIBSR 05-23-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Senate Legacy bill includes $2.2 million/year for regional library system legacy funds and $300,000/year for the digital library. The House Legacy bill includes $2.75 million in FY 18 and $2.5 million in FY 19 for regional library systems legacy funding and $375,000/year for the digital library project. • Regional Library Basic Systems Support / Multitype funding RLBSS is the state funding public libraries receive for basic operations. Unfortunately, neither the House nor the Senate included the funding increases or RLBSS formula change in their E12 budgets. If you have a relationship with any of the House or Senate E12 conferees or House/Senate leadership, you could reach out and let them know we want to see HF 1382 & SF 1033 included in the E12 budget. Federal 1 etr islation Federal funding for libraries comes through the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) though a program called the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). The IMLS is eliminated in the President's "skinny budget". This funding is what powers Minnnesota's robust interlibrary loan system, the Braille and Talking Books Library for the visually impaired, STEM and Early Literacy training for public and school library staff, as well as a competitive grant process. GRRL has received grant funding for projects such as our portable laptop lab and the We Play Here kits. There is a state match requirement for LSTA. Should the federal funding dry up, it is likely in many states that the local dollars could shrink or disappear as well, a double whammy. We are also advocating for another grant pool called the Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program which provides competitive grants to school libraries and national not-for-profit organizations to provide books and childhood literacy activities to kids and parents in high need communities, but our primary focus is on IMLS/LSTA funding. Strategically we focused on getting MN Senators to sign the "Dear Appropriator" letters circulating in the Senate for LSTA and IAL funding for FY 18. These letters send a strong message to the Appropriations committee of the importance of these programs. Our ask is for $186.6M for LSTA and $27M for IAL. As of May 10, both Sen. Franken and Sen. Klobuchar have signed on to the FYI IAL and LSTA letters. Other federal library issues include net neutrality, privacy, and copyright concerns. If you would like to stay abreast of federal library issues, consider subscribing to the American Library Association's District Dispatch: htt ://www.disti•ictdis atch.or / If you would like information on Minnesota issues, consider signing up for the Legislative Listserv: htt ://mnlibrar advocacv.orrhmailmandistinfo/mnlible mnlibrar advocac .or, You may also contact Jami Trenam, Minnesota Library Association Legislative Chair at 'amit & rrl.lib.mn.us