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Greetings! Folks have asked me what impact the reductions of IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) have here in Monterey. That's a lengthy question and answer, but I'm hopeful that this is a short synopsis!
Through Congress, IMLS allocates nearly $295 million annually to support Libraries & Museums. The budget for Monterey Public Library and our Museums are largely through the City General Fund - or essentially - your tax dollars and tourism revenue. In addition we receive funding through the Monterey Public Library Friends & Foundation, California State Library grants, and private donors to support additional services.
In California, about $15 million is allocated annually to the California State Library through IMLS. The amount annually has not fluctuated much in 20+ years. What does this support? The State Library distributes this funding to libraries throughout the state to support communities in various ways including:
- Group rate subscriptions on eBooks and digital newspapers (150,000 eBooks) and funding to purchase new eBooks annually.
- High speed internet access at libraries through the federal E-Rate (education rate) program.
- Braille and Talking Book Library services mailed to for people with a visual, physical, or perceptual reading disability.
- Grants directly to libraries - the Monterey Public Library was able to replace our Bookmobile, add Privacy Study Pods, and replace Children's Area shelving & furniture.
- Lunch in the Library at areas where food insecurity is an issue for students over the summer.
- Adult Literacy programs and high school diploma programs.
- Smaller grants to libraries - many smaller grants include author programs, sustainability programs (Seed Libraries, etc.) or Tool Lending Libraries.
What about Museums?
Our City Museums: Colton Hall & Old Jail, Presidio of Monterey Museum, and Pacific Biological Laboratories (Rickett's Lab) have not had direct grants in the past 20 years through IMLS, however there has been indirect funding. Programs like the Collection Assessment for Preservation and Ready Or Not Conservation reports paid for professional reviews of how we store items, emergency plans, and for condition assessments of our buildings. The work creates actionable items for us to look at grants to make sure that the photos, artwork, and historic buildings here in Monterey last for future generations. Other projects like the "Historic Monterey" Path of History expansion to create the audio tour and later cell phone tours were actually funded through National Park Service.
Locally, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has received numerous IMLS grants over the past several years (about $1.6 million) to support programming and expand STEM learning to area schools, and now offers the IMLS Museums For All program to provide free access to low-income households.
As we look toward what the future holds for Libraries and Museums, I wanted to share the California State Library goals as shared in their 5 year plan with IMLS:
Goal One: Strengthen the ability of California Libraries to design programs and services for all Californians in collaboration with their local communities.
Goal Two: Expand the capacity of California library workers to create and implement services that impact all communities.
Goal Three: Broaden data-driven planning and decision making centered on community impact.
Goal Four: Strengthen resource-sharing and access to information, services, and opportunity with emphasis on local community strengths and challenges.
Warmly~
Brian
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