Russell Library (and all libraries) in the news

Governor Rell's proposed budget for 2009-10 strikes fear into the arts and humanities communities throughout the state - take a look at this portionn of a letter sent out by Vince Juliano, Assistant Director of Middletown's Russell Library:

Governor's Recommended Reductions of May 28, 2009 ---------------------------------------------------------

• Suspend Funding for the State-Wide Digital Library: This eliminates citizen access to a wide variety of heavily used informational databases and electronic resources. Last year, citizens across the state conducted over 30 million database searches using the Digital Library.
• Suspend Funding for Connecticard Payments: Elimination of this funding ends the statewide reciprocal borrowing program that allows residents of any Connecticut city or town to borrow books and other materials from any public library in the state. Last fiscal year, Middletown residents borrowed over 59,000 books and other materials under this valuable program, while statewide, citizens borrowed 4.7 million items.
• Suspend Funding for the State-Wide Data Base Program: Through this program, citizens search the online catalogs of most libraries in the state, while libraries use the statewide catalog to obtain hard-to-locate items for interlibrary loan to citizens and for assistance in cataloging their own materials.
• Suspend Funding for Grants to Public Libraries: This eliminates grants to principal public libraries in each municipality.
• Suspend Funding to Support Cooperating Library Service Units: The $332,500 spent by the state on the Connecticut Library Consortium saved local libraries $6.9 MILLION on books alone last year! Russell Library alone saved approximately $55,125 on books last fiscal year through its membership in the Consortium. The Consortium also saves libraries money on audiovisual materials, specialized library supplies, and continuing education opportunities.
• Suspend Funding for the Connecticut Education Network: "CEN" provides Russell and most libraries in the state with high-speed access to the Internet for their online catalogs and circulation systems, and for citizen access to the Internet for research purposes on public access computers in the library.

Now, watch this report from News Channel 8:




Finally, write your legislator - these cuts affect everyone!