News from New York Library Association
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Albany, New York 12210
For Further Information Contact:
Michael J. Borges, Executive Director
(518) 432-6952 ext. 101
director@nyla.org
For Immediate Release
America Celebrates 85th Annual Children’s Book Week
But Not Here In New York
Caption: Mary Ratzer, retired school librarian, Christina Stenson-Carey, Children's Librarian from Albany Public Library, Michael J. Borges, NYLA Executive Director and children's authors, Coleen Paratore, Joseph Bruchac and James Preller.
“This week marks the 85th annual celebration of Children’s Book Week in America, but not here in New York, unless of course, your child is represented by an Assembly Republican”, stated Michael J. Borges, Executive Director of the New York Library Association.
“When we should be celebrating the importance of reading to children and the positive impact reading has on a child’s development, we are instead mourning the loss of $4.5 million in state aid for library services that will also trigger a $500,000 cut in federal funds that are used to support statewide summer reading programs”, continued Mr. Borges.
The Assembly Democrats fell one vote short in September in their attempt to override the Governor’s veto of library aid restoration.The override fell short, in part, because the Assembly Republicans reached a deal with the Governor not to support the override attempt in exchange for aid to libraries in their districts from the Governor’s pot of discretionary funds.
“It is shameful that we have reached this low point in New York politics, where children represented by one political party are more deserving of library services than those represented by another party”, stated Rocco Staino., President of the New York Library Association.
The New York Library Association held a press conference on Monday, November 15th at which three children’s authors from New York (Joseph Bruchac, Coleen Paratore and James Preller) spoke about the importance of libraries and the need to restore the funding.
“Today I am a children’s author.I became an author because I love to write. I love to write because I love to read.And I love to read because librarians matched me up with the very best books when I was a child,” stated children’s author Coleen Paratore(How Prudence Proovit and The Wedding Planner’s Daughter).
“We hear a lot of talk from politicians about values. Family values. Moral values. We stand here today, during Children’s Book Week, to say let us value our libraries. Let us value reading. Value education. And in doing so, let us value and therefore honor democracy itself.Because an educated population is at the heart of a thriving, vibrant democracy.Let’s put our money where our values are – restore the $4.5 million cut to library aid”, said children’s authorJames Prell (The Case of the Ghostwriter and The Case of the Great Sled Race).
“What is the worth of a library? For a child, a school, a community, the value of the library cannot be measured in dollars—even though libraries desperately need funding to exist.A library’s true measure is in the lives it affects, the incredible amount of knowledge it makes available to anyone who seeks it, the democracy and citizenship that it strengthens by being an unbiased source of information on every topic,” commented Joseph Bruchac, children’s author (Raccoon’s Last Race and A Boy Called Slow).
Libraries have not had an increase in state aid since 1998 and over the past six years inflation has eroded the buying power of the aid that they do receive.Factoring in inflation, library services are receiving $14 million less in aid today than they were in 1998.Yet since that time, library usage has increased by at least 20% and library costs have also increased by double digits.
“I believe libraries have done their fair share of doing more with less.Library service providers across the state, no matter which political party represents them, deserve to have their funding restored”, stated Mr. Borges.“The voters of this state also agree.The New York Library Association commissioned a Zogby International poll in mid-October that showed that 80% of those polled believe the Legislature should restore the cuts in library aid.Sixty-one percent believed libraries deserve more state aid”, concluded Mr. Borges.
“When library aid funding is restored, only then we can truly join the rest of the nation in celebrating Children’s Book Week.Until then, our children are being held hostage to hardball politics”, concluded Mr. Staino.
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