Congress OKs Library Budget

By Staff -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2005

Although Congress's recent passage of the omnibus appropriations bill has increased next year's funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) by $7 million to $206 million, it still falls short of President George Bush's request for $220.5 million, says Josh Farrelman, the American Library Association's director of government relations. LSTA is the only federal grant program solely devoted to libraries.

Congress also disappointingly maintained $19.8 million in funding next year for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, which was $3 million below what the Senate had approved. At this level, the Department of Education will only be able to award about 200 grants out of 3,000 applicants eligible for federal school library materials funding.