How can the librarians be funded?

March 26, 2022 4:03 PM

I am visiting the wee Montana town from whence my wife sprung, and we found out a couple of days ago that the county commissioners plan to completely defund the library. They are scrabbling to find grants to cover books, periodicals, and other supplies, but coming up short on funding for LIBRARIANS, who deserve a living wage.

Do you know of funding sources for librarians, the people what make libraries go? There are a lot of grants for books, training, specific programs, but the librarians are not finding a lot of unrestricted grants for funding actual librarians.

(If it helps, one of the branch libraries is located in a reservation)

posted by ivan ivanych samovar to Society & Culture (3 answers total)

Best answer: Montana's really had a hard time with this of late in a few communities (one example). Generally speaking, it's worth trying to find ongoing sources of funding because otherwise you wind up with a revolving door of staff which isn't great for a community. A few options, not all of which are practical and with the understanding that these are all emergency plans, not necessarily good ones

- see if the school has a library with staff and see if they might be available for a few hours (paid) so at least you'd have someone professional.
- talk to the State Library, the state librarian is a really nice woman and might have ideas
- likewise talk to someone at AILA (American Indian Library Association) because there may be possibilities getting IMLS or other funding for projects that would also pay for staff
- Possibly having some other department get an AmeriCorps/VISTA person who could do some shifts at the library
- talk to the folks at EveryLibrary who might be able to help you fight this defunding (tell them I sent you)

But honestly, if the library is under attack, it's almost better to not bring someone in just to get attacked and instead to work on community resiliency and alternative ways of sharing information and getting better people on to the commissioner board. Because otherwise it's unclear whether you'll even have money to keep the building open, unless there is something I am missing. Good luck, here to back channel discuss other ideas if you'd like.
posted by jessamyn at 5:06 PM on March 26, 2022 [22 favorites]

Increase taxes. Get rid of Republicans...

All I have to offer, which, doesn't help.

Good luck
posted by Windopaene at 5:52 PM on March 26, 2022 [10 favorites]

Jessamyn covered it very well but I will re-emphasize EveryLibrary. They’re a PAC focused on getting public libraries (and their communities) sustained ongoing funding via voting measures. They’ve had a lot of success in even tough areas politically speaking.

Right now libraries are under attack in multiple directions and EveryLibrary are spread pretty thin, so contributions to funding them would help not just your wife’s former community (potentially) but many others.
posted by librarylis at 12:16 AM on March 27, 2022 [6 favorites]