Stimulus Package and Libraries

Stimulus Update: House Passes American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
February 13th, 2009 Category: Funding, Government Information, OGR
The House of Representatives today passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with a final vote of 246-183, with members voting largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for the legislation and seven Democrats opposed it. The Senate is currently debating the bill and is expected to vote tonight before adjourning for the President’s Day recess. President Obama is expected to sign the bill next week.
Here are some examples of provisions included in the $789 billion economic stimulus that can directly benefit libraries:
? $7.2 billion for broadband to increase broadband access and usage in unserved and underserved areas of the nation, which will better position the U.S. for economic growth, innovation, and job creation. This includes $200 million in competitive grants for expanding public computer capacity at public libraries and community colleges. Additionally, this includes $650 million for DTV, of which $90 million may be used by organizations, including libraries, for education and outreach to vulnerable populations including one-on-one assistance for box installation.
? $53.6 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, including $39.5 billion to local school districts using existing funding formulas, which can be used for preventing cutbacks, preventing layoffs, school modernization (school libraries will benefit from this), or other purposes; $5 billion to states as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures in education; and $8.8 billion to states for high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services (including public libraries), which may include education and for modernization, renovation and repairs of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities.
? An additional $120 million for the Older American’s Act to provide community service jobs at nonprofit and public facilities including libraries to an additional 24,000 older Americans.
? An additional $130 million for the Rural Community Facilities Program to provide loans and grants for rural community facilities including libraries.
The next step is to make sure that state officials invest the funds they receive from Congress in libraries. It will be up to you to speak up and let your governor know how libraries are benefiting the community. We will be sending out tools to help you do this in the coming week.
Thanks to you, our system indicates 1,255 messages went to Congress in the last week with hundreds more who called and e-mailed on their own. Without your efforts, libraries would not have been successfully included in this legislation, especially the $200 million in broadband funding. This goes to show that there is strength in numbers, and we have a voice in Congress when we band together to let them know libraries are critical to our communities’ success.
Emily Sheketoff, Executive DirectorALA Washington Officeesheketoff@alawash.org

What is your Friend's Group doing?

What is your FOL Group doing that is working really well for you? Do you have ideas you'd like to share with the other Friend's Groups? Let us know using the comment section!

FOL/Library Managers Meeting

Don't miss the 3rd Friends of the Library/Library Manager Team meeting on Thursday, February 19th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the F.T.B. Jacaranda Library. The library is located at 4143 Woodmere Park Blvd, Venice.

Library Advisory Board Annual Report

The Library Advisory Board will present their annual report to the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, February 11th. If able you might want to take a few moments and watch. The meetings are broadcast live on Access 19. You can also view the Commission meeting live or on archive on the Meetings on Demand section of the Sarasota County website:
http://sarasotacounty.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=18

Upcoming Friends Alliance Meeting on February 4th

The next meeting of the Alliance is on February 4th at the North Port Library. The theme this month will be "Legislative Issues & FLA Library Days"

Upcoming Library Days, March 10-11, 2009

The upcoming regular session of the Legislature is convening in March. Library Days will be held on March 10th and 11th. For additional information on Library Days registration go to:
http://www.flalib.org/library_days.php

Register now - the deadline is February 20th.

Welcome to the Sarasota County Libraries Friends Blog

This is the spot! If you are a "Friend" of the Sarasota County Libraries in Sarasota County, Florida - you can come here to see the latest information from our FOL groups. This blog will allow us to communicate ideas, advocacy news, and more! You can bookmark the spot in your favorites - so you are always up to date on what's happening.