Obama and Libraries
So far, the President-elect has had a positive track record
-- School Library Journal, 12/1/2008
It may be too soon to know how well libraries will fare on President-elect Barack Obama’s agenda, but it’s safe to say that the profession has a special place in the heart of the next president of the United States.
Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington office, says she’s confident that Obama will recognize the “importance of what we do” because he has a track record of supporting libraries in the past, including voicing concern over the Patriot Act at the 2004 Democratic Convention and telling ALA in June 2005 “the library has always been a window to a larger world—a place where... the American story [moves] forward.”
Obama’s real support for libraries will be apparent when its time to renew funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). President Bush has already proposed $220 million in LSTA funding for 2009, a figure that includes $171.5 million, which triggers a formula that allows each state to receive at least $680,000 in base funding for libraries, says Sheketoff.
Other challenges for Obama include the funding of the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program and the recent ALA $100 million stimulus request to “stem the bleeding” of critical library cutbacks and closures during these difficult economic times.
