Funding Measure for MD Libraries

This past legislative session in Annapolis brought good news to libraries throughout the state of Maryland. House Bill 1380 (crossfiled with Senate Bill 709) paved the way for the state to establish a grant program through the Maryland State Department of Education to fund county capital projects. Sponsored by forty members of the House of Delegates, the bill passed both the House and the Senate unanimously and was signed into law on May 16. Under the law, funds for construction and renovation of libraries will increase by $5 million annually beginning in 2008.

Previous to this law, state and local governments shared operating costs of libraries but not the costs of construction and renovation of libraries. That remained a local fiscal concern. Now, library systems may be eligible for grants from the state of $20,000 or more, if they secure matching grants from county, municipal, or private sources. Considering that 35% of library branches throughout the state are more than 30 years old, with an additional 6% housed in rented space, these grants will be put to good use, for building new branches and repairing and expanding old ones. --submitted by library staff