Our Seven Library Campaigns on November 7
***Updated to talk about nine (9) campaigns on 7 November 2017***
We are excited and proud to work on nine library ballot measures on the November 7, 2017 Election Day.
Over $44 million dollars in stable funding is at stake across these elections. EveryLibrary has provided pro-bono support to their boards and for their staff, and is working as a campaign funder, ally, and guide to their Vote Yes Committees. In Rochelle Park, N.J. we didn't start working with them until mid-September. With Kitsap Regional Library, we've been working with them since 2013.
Each community has a different - and important reason - to go to the ballot. Each town, city, or county has to decide about how they want to fund their library. But what is on the line, though, is even more basic. Do they want to be a place that has a well run and properly resourced library at its heart? We hope that we have helped the staff and board to articulate, through an engaged Informational Communications Campaign, what really happens if the measure passes. We hope that we've been able to support the amazing volunteers from each Vote Yes committee carry their Get Out The Vote work into every neighborhood.
Greensburg-Hempfield Area Library (PA) - a 1 mill dedicated levy to put the library budget on stable footing and avoid severe cuts now and closure soon. See: Vote Yes! Save the Greensburg-Hempfield Library committee
Kitsap (WA) Regional Library - an $0.08 cent levy increase ($3.45 million annually) for operations, collections, programs, services and staffing across this county-wide system. See: Vote Yes Kitsap Regional Library committee
Dallas (TX) Public Library - a $12 million bond package to build two new libraries and make facilities improvements across the entire system. This is one line item (Item E) in a larger city bond package, but must pass on its own. Our colleagues at the Friends of the Dallas Public Library are spearheading this campaign.
St. Clairsville (OH) Public Library - a vote to establish a 5-year 1 mill levy for the library. This is one of the last remaining libraries in Ohio that only runs on state aid. See: Vote YES for St. Clairsville Public Library committee.
Moniteau County (MO) - a vote to establish a new library district with basic funding for the unserved parts of the county, including the town of California, following a judge's invalidation of the previous district in February. This is our second campaign in the county.
Clearview Library District (CO) - a $25 million bond to build a new library. See: Yes2OurLibrary committee
Hiawatha (IA) Public Library - a $1.7 million bond vote, as part of a $4.7 million funding plan for a new, larger library with $2 million in fundraising and a $1 million contribution from the city. See: the "Make Room for Imagination" committee.
Campaign #8 - Rochelle Park, N.J. - the town of Rochelle Park does not have a municipal library and no access to interlibrary loan or other key library resources. A wonderful group of local residents is campaigning to set up a library with guaranteed funding of .3 mills, the 'baseline funding' for libraries in the state. This is the second municipal library campaign we have been a part of in the state.
Campaign #9 - Henrietta (NY) Public Library – a $10 million dollar bond as part of a $12.5 million dollar project to build a new library in the heart of the town.
With these $54 million dollars in library projects, a lot is on the line. From embracing 21st Century facilities to the authorizing operating funds so that their librarians and staff can best serve their diverse communities, it is exactly why EveryLibrary was founded. Our support for both small towns like St. Clairsville or Hiawatha and big places like Dallas or the KRL region is consistent with our values. We believe that "any library ballot measure anywhere should matter to every library everywhere". And we work with all of them on a pro-bono basis. Our free consulting, training, advising, and coaching is only possible because of our donors.
If you believe, like we do, that all of these libraries matter, please take the next step and donate today. You can be confident that your donations will go to work with these (*9*) Vote Yes committees all the way to Election Day this November. You can be proud as a donor to help win some part of $54 million dollars for libraries.