The Attala County Public Library is asking the Board of Supervisors to consider providing a three percent increase in library funding to help offset state aid reductions.
According to documents submitted by Executive Director Richard Greene, the state will reduce library funding by $12,430. That means the state will have cut the County Library’funding a total of 52 percent over the past three years, Greene said.
In an effort to prevent service cuts, Greene said they hope both the county and the City of Kosciusko will pitch in. The county is being asked for an additional $8,250 – three percent of the $275,000 budget in FY 2016-17, while the City of Kosciusko will be asked to provide additional funding, as well.
“We’re trying to maintain the library services, but the state has not been a good partner,” Greene told the supervisors. “I hope we can avoid making any severe cuts.”
Greene noted that if the additional funds are not made available, there will have to be cuts to the book budget and other non-personnel categories in order to meet the library requirement to have a balanced budget.
Several community members spoke in favor of the increase at the Supervisors’ meeting Monday morning.
Melanie Newman, wife of Greenlee Elementary School Principal Cullie Newman, said early exposure to books is a critical aspect in childhood educational success.
“We don’t like to think about test scores, but we have to. Kids who have books in their home are three times more likely to continue their education,” she said. “This happens before they even enter preschool. We need to think about how to get those books into their homes and these library programs do that.”
Librarian Eloise William provided the board with a run-down of the library’s usage and programming during the past five months:
• Average monthly circulation: 7,105 items
• Average monthly attendance: 5,573
• Program participants: 1,100 individuals attended 60 different programs
• Computer use: 4,568 users logged 7,181 hours
• Average monthly Dial a Story uses: 122
• Early Literacy Computer use: 41 sessions by 39 users
• Average monthly Geneaology reports: 343
