Lib Politics Rodeo December 29, 2015

News from around the #libraries #politics world

Voters in Oakwood (OH) will see a $9.7 million bond for library renovations on their March 2016 ballot.

The money is needed to renovate the historic building from 1937 that has been added to up until 1983. The building needs technology updates, better reading spaces, and repairs for water issues in the basement. It is one of 30 other measures on the ballot in Montgomery and surrounding counties.

A $39.5 million referendum for a new downtown library will be on the March 2016 ballot for residents in Plainfield (IL). It was approved for the ballot last week by the library board. The bond will cover construction of a larger library downtown as well as a 4-cent increase to the operations fund to support the larger library The library serves 5 times as many residents as it was when it was first built 25 years ago.

A ballot measure to renew the parcel tax for the Sacramento Public Library system (CA) has been proposed for the June 2016 ballot. The current Measure X will expire in June 2017 and generates about $5 million per year for the city’s libraries. The ballot measure is being drafted by city staff and is needed to support core library services at the city’s 12 library locations.

Other Happenings

We have released our 2015 annual report. Your donations and support of EveryLibrary made everything we did possible. Take a moment to read our year in review and celebrate what you helped make happen. Then, join us at our board meeting during the ALA Midwinter conference where we will discuss some of this report and look forward into 2016.

We are excited to have founding board member Patrick Sweeney joining EveryLibrary full time in 2016. As the Political Director he will focus on working with library campaigns, fundraising, and coalition building.

We’re still working on adding signatures to the #vetoSB571 petition. SB 571 is a bill in Michigan that would prevent library staff from sharing information about library related ballot measures 60 days before the election. We stand with the Michigan Library Association in opposition to this language in the bill and would like to deliver 5,000 signatures to Governor Snyder. If you have not already, please sign now. If you did sign, thank you very much for standing with us. Please share the petition with your friends, family and neighbors.

That’s all for this week. Next week we will have a roundup of what we will be up to at the ALA Midwinter 2016 meeting. Happy trails!