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(Updated: 8/27/2026)
On January 6, 2027, the New York State Legislature will convene for its 249th legislative session. With just over four months left until members of the Senate and Assembly return to work in Albany, the New York Library Association is hard at work to position our state's library community for budgetary and policy success in the coming year.
Last month, the members of NYLA's Legislative Committee met to produce recommendations for new budget requests and legislative priorities. These initiatives, developed with the input of representatives from all corners of NYLA's membership, were presented to NYLA's Council and approved on August 6. Please find information about these priorities below and keep an eye out for the addition of new resources as we progress towards the new year.
As our libraries face new challenges each day and continue to fight in service of their users, we must all work together to make sure leaders in New York and across the country understand that strong libraries mean strong communities.
  
NYLA's FY 2028 State Budget Requests
Library Operating Aid: $188 million
Library Operating Aid, also known as State Aid for Libraries, is statutory funding for use by each library type and system. State aid is leveraged by regional library systems to support eBook access, interlibrary loan, delivery, continuing education, coordination of collection development, automation, and other resource sharing activities.
Despite small increases over the last two years, Library Operating Aid has been underfunded by over $207 million since FY 1992, with over $155 million of that total occurring since FY 2009. When coupled with rising operational costs, this underfunding means increased aid is needed to support New York State libraries so they can continue improving the lives of residents of all ages, abilities and economic status. Adequate funding is needed to support school, public, and academic libraries and library systems.
Library Construction Aid: $175M
72% of New York's public library buildings are over 50 years old, with 36% 100 years old or greater. Increased investment is needed to maintain and modernize the physical infrastructure of New York State’s libraries, ensuring New Yorkers have safe, accessible, and sustainable libraries for generations to come.
Library Materials Aid: $22/pupil
Library Materials Aid (LMA) is a category of Instructional Materials Aid, along with Textbook, Software, and Computer Hardware & Equipment Aid. It is intended to supplement local funds budgeted for school library program support. LMA is allocated to school districts via reimbursement, with a maximum award set by law as $6.25 per public and non-public school student residing within a school district’s boundaries.
This per-pupil reimbursement rate has only increased twenty-five cents in the last 28 years and has remained stagnant since 2007. We are seeking an increase to the rate to reflect general inflation, the rising costs of materials in school libraries, and the needs of New York's students.
New York cannot allow two decades to pass without increasing its investment in student access to library materials.
NOVELny: $3.5M
Established in 2000 and facilitated by the New York State Library, NOVELny is a curated collection of databases and resources. It offers access to hundreds of academic journals, magazines newspapers, maps, charts, research, and reference materials available to all New York residents free of charge.
Since its inception, NOVELny has been of particular use in the school setting, where it has become an embedded resource with over two decades of integration in lesson plans and curriculum maps in school districts statewide. Unfortunately, without the advantages offered by state contract rates and central purchasing, the cost of obtaining the resources provided by NOVELny would be prohibitive for many school districts, public libraries, and academic libraries across our state.
All New Yorkers, regardless of age, socioeconomic standing, or local funding, deserve equitable access to reliable, reputable information resources that allow them to be lifelong learners and informed citizens. NYLA asks Governor Hochul and New York's legislators to fund NOVELny at $3.5M in FY 2028, a $500,000 increase over current spending, to ensure no resources are lost due to annual cost increases.
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2027 Policy Initiatives
Intellectual Freedom
Key Legislation to Support:
Freedom to Read Act - S.8630 (May)/A.9537 (Simone) - NYLA Memo of Support
Passed the Senate 6/2 & Passed the Assembly 6/4
Open Shelves Act - S.1100-A (May)/A.3119-B (Kelles) - NYLA Memo of Support
Passed the Senate 5/29
Libraries across our state face rapidly expanding efforts to censor materials and programming they deem objectionable based on subjective personal sensibilities and partisan ideologies. We require legislation that empowers library professionals to exercise their expertise and ensure public access to materials, services, and programs that represent their interests.
NYLA supports and helped craft the Freedom to Read Act (S.8630-C/A.9537-B) and Open Shelves Act (S.1100-A/A.3119-B).
For a second year in a row, a version of the Freedom to Read Act has advanced through the New York State Legislature. The bill will now wait to be called to Governor Hochul’s desk for consideration. After it reaches the Governor’s desk she will have 10 days to either sign or veto it.
If enacted, this bill would add a new section to the Education Law requiring Board of Education to adopt and publicly post written policies for the development of school library collections and the reconsideration of school library materials. For these policies, it would establish baseline procedural components required for inclusion, including review committees, appeal pathways, and the provision that no library material shall be removed or restricted solely because of disagreement with themes, ideas, or viewpoints expressed within it or because of the identities of the author, subject, or characters.
Furthermore, the legislation would also require that all materials remain available within the library while under review, protect school library staff from discipline for actions taken in reasonable reliance on district policy, and direct the Commissioner of Education to promulgate implementing regulations.
School library systems may provide guidance, training, or professional development to assist school districts and school personnel in implementing this section, consistent with existing programs, resources, and offerings.
Unfortunately, the Open Shelves Act only passed in the Senate in 2026 and remains a priority for 2027. In its present form, the act would include in the state's Standards of Library Service a requirement that libraries adopt policies and procedures that that ensure library staff are able to curate and develop collections, services, and programming in a manner consistent with the values and protections established under the Human Rights Law under Article Fifteen of the Executive Law and the Equal Rights Amendment to the State Constitution.
The legislative intent of this bill, included in its text, states:
It is the sense of the legislature that public libraries are essential to ensuring broad access to information, fostering informed citizenship, intellectual exploration, and imagination. By ensuring that library collections, services, and programming reflect diverse experiences and perspectives, the legislature seeks to maintain libraries as spaces where all members of the community can engage with the marketplace of ideas, promoting open access to information and points of view. Librarians are professionals trained to curate robust collections that serve the full spectrum of their communities, and this legislation affirms the state's trust in their ability to do so.
eBooks Licensing Reform
Key Legislation to Support: A.3589 (Carroll)/S.9339 (May) - NYLA Memo of Support
Referred to Assembly Libraries & Education Technology (1/7) & Referred to Senate Libraries (3/3)
Interest in electronic materials, specifically eBooks and eAudiobooks, spiked at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to data released last month as part of the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services’ annual Public Libraries Survey, circulation has only continued to grow in the years since. Attempts to keep up with increasing user demand for eBooks have been throttled by an industry-specific pricing model that precludes libraries from accessing materials on terms equal to those afforded to the general public.
Rather than allowing libraries to purchase eBooks on equal terms with individual consumers, they are largely restricted to limited licenses that cost exponentially more than print materials or even private purchases of the same e-content. These temporary licenses typically expire after fixed periods of time or once a particular number of circulations is reached, whichever occurs first. As such, libraries must continuously re-license materials to maintain access. This situation strains already limited budgets, prevents the development of stable collections of eBooks and eAudiobooks, and prices many libraries out of satisfying patron demand for those materials.
If enacted, A.3589 would require that any contract between libraries and publishers who offer electronic books (eBooks and eAudiobooks) be governed by the laws of New York State under its authority to regulate intrastate commerce. Additionally, it would establish a list of provisions prohibited from inclusion in said contracts, thereby affording library patrons across our state equitable access to the content they seek.
Public Libraries as Sensitive Locations for Civil Immigration Enforcement
Key Legislation to Support: A.11596 (Romero)
The FY 2027 State Budget's Public Protection and General Government Article VII legislation included a suite of provisions intended to protect the rights and safety of New Yorks immigrant community. Included in these measures, the Sensitive Location Protection Act empowers certain entities to adopt policies and/or procedures to deny access to any portion of the entity's physical location not accessible to the general public to any individual seeking access for the purposes of immigration enforcement unless that individual presents a judicial warrant. The law also establishes the right of sensitive locations to seek injunctive relief from the New York State Attorney General's office when their policies are violated.
Unfortunately, despite the inclusion of non-public schools/private schools, institutions of higher education, childcare facilities, houses of worship, healthcare facilities, nursery schools, summer camps, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, recreation centers, and senior centers in the statute, as well as other sections of law protecting public schools and municipal institutions, public and association libraries were not named in the text of the legislation signed into law by Governor Hochul.
NYLA seeks the protection for public and association libraries under this section of law so that users can access their local libraries without fear or apprehension.
Initiatives in Development
In addition to NYLA's policy priorities focusing on the passage of specific pieces of supported legislation, there are nearly a dozen other areas of focus that NYLA is currently in the researching, drafting, and advocating for, known as "Developing Initiatives." General information regarding several of these developing initiatives can be found below, and please contact [email protected] with any questions pertaining to additional priorities that NYLA is pursuing.
Media Literacy in New York State
Media Literacy education is an instructional discipline that teaches students how to apply critical thinking, reading, and reflection skills as they engage with our ever-evolving information and media landscape.
In New York's school libraries, Certified Library Media Specialists have utilized their unique credentials as experts in both education and information science to lead the way in development and delivery of media literacy education. As information technology advances and use of artificial intelligence continues to alter the digital landscape, Media Literacy instruction and the expertise of our school librarians will only grow in importance.
As such, NYLA is working to develop and pursue legislation that expands Media Literacy education in New York schools and solidify the role of Certified Library Media Specialists as leaders in the discipline.
Civil Service Reform
Across New York, persistent issues within Civil Service for the field of librarianship are undermining the recruitment and retention of library staff. As such, NYLA is revisiting still unrealized Civil Service priorities from past legislative sessions to identify specific amendments to current processes and protocols to target in 2026.
Library Worker Safety
New York's library workers deserve to execute their duties free from harassment, threats, or fear for their physical safety. NYLA is working with members from across our state to develop consensus around policy measures that intended to bolster library worker safety and enable professionals in the field of librarianship to feel safe in their workplaces.
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Advocacy Resources
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