State
Aid Reductions Impinge on Collections
at Williamsburg Regional Library
Cuts in State Aid to Public Libraries by the Governor and the General Assembly will adversely affect Williamsburg Regional Library (WRL),
officials announced during a recent library Board of Trustees meeting. Despite generous support in the upcoming year's budget by
the library's local funders, the aid WRL receives from the state of Virginia was reduced by $39,335. This
represents a 7% decrease in the library's current collections budget, reducing it to 2000 levels.
The library budget goes into effect July 1.
"This will have a detrimental effect on the materials available for
use by patrons," said WRL Director John Moorman. "Because of the reduction, purchases of books, periodicals and electronic materials
will not keep pace with the demand of library users," Moorman said.
Three areas will be particularly affected, according to Moorman:
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Popular adult and youth collection areas, such as audio books and videos
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Adult hardcover fiction and non-fiction books
-
New materials
"Even when budgetary levels are restored in future years, materials
not purchased because of cutbacks will be difficult to acquire because many of them will have gone out of print," said Moorman.
"The Williamsburg Regional Library is one of the better-funded public
libraries in Virginia, receiving a high level of financial support from the City of Williamsburg, James City County and York County,"
said WRL Board Chair Michael Fox. "For this strong local support we are genuinely grateful," added Fox. The approved FY 2003 budget for
WRL is $5,073,793, of which $558,125 is earmarked for the collections budget. "Even with high levels of local support, however, the
library also relies on state funding, particularly in the area of collections," Fox explained. "If State Aid to Public Libraries
continues to be less than fully funded, the Williamsburg Regional Library's patrons will find themselves with less satisfactory library
collections than they have enjoyed and which they expect their library to provide," Fox said.
The Williamsburg Regional Library system consists of the Williamsburg
Library, the James City County Library and a Bookmobile. Its service area includes more than 48,000 patrons in the City of Williamsburg,
James City County, and portions of York County. There are more than 331,000 items in the library's print and non-print collection.
