Four librarians and members of the South Dakota Library Association testified before the Senate Education Committee on Thursday about how cuts to the state library would devastate readers, especially in rural communities, and increase costs for local libraries.
Gov. Kristi Noem has proposed reducing the state library’s general budget by more than $1 million, full-time employment by 12.5 positions and federal funding by more than $1.3 million.
It’s something the State Library Association has said would eliminate the state library altogether, cutting 13 staff members in addition to “virtually all resources.” If the proposal goes forward, only two positions and seven staff of the South Dakota Accessible Library Services, Braille and Talking Book Library would remain.
The South Dakota Department of Education, State Library and Mackay Building as it stands in Pierre, South Dakota, on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
In a talking point sheet on its website, the association said the state library is a vital resource because: individual libraries can’t afford the databases provided by the state library that are vital for education and job-seeking; it secures better deals for databases that would otherwise be unattainable for local libraries; and, that without state support, libraries face skyrocketing costs that impact students, job seekers and educators across the state.
Cuts would hurt interlibrary loans, database access
Abby Edwardson, vice president of the South Dakota Library Association and librarian at the Rawlins Municipal Library in Pierre, spoke about the benefits of two important programs provided through the state library — interlibrary loans and Libby, an app that gives readers access to digital e-books and audiobooks.
An interlibrary loan is a way for readers to borrow books from libraries outside their regular home library from another library across the state by way of a courier system, which sends the book from one library to another for that reader.
But under proposed budget cuts, the courier system would be eliminated and local libraries would have to rely on shipping at their local post office, which could become more costly for local libraries. It may require others to cut interlibrary loan services completely, limiting access to some books or titles for readers, Edwardson explained.
More: Educators, education secretary disagree on necessity of South Dakota library budget cuts
Libby is paid for and managed by the state library, and each library pays an annual fee to join the consortium that allows patrons to use the service, Edwardson said. She questioned who would manage the program with the proposed budget cuts.
Elizabeth Fox, president of the South Dakota Library Association and a librarian at the Hilton M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University, spoke about the benefits of shared resources that the state library offers, such as databases.
For example, Fox said the state library pays $137,800 each year for the Swank database that allows schools to show educational movies via streaming in classrooms. If this database was cut, costs would double for each district to purchase it on their own, or quadruple for each school to purchase it on their own, she said.
Another database, Peterson’s Test Prep, benefits every public library and school district in the state, Fox said. But if the state library doesn’t continue the $26,000 service, each community it serves would have to pay thousands of dollars to purchase it on their own.
The state library received $1,399,443 in federal funds this year to help cover the costs of 58 databases, Fox said, with the caveat the state must match 34% of the federal funds to be eligible to receive them, which was about $476,000.
She urged legislators to financially support the state library in the state budget this year to continue these crucial library services across the state.
Library associate Leah Tanis does story time with kids on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, at Siouxland Downtown Library in Sioux Falls.
Local librarians: ‘I wish you could see the state library through my eyes’
Sarah Jones-Lutter, the only full-time librarian in Redfield at the Redfield Carnegie Library, spoke about libraries’ role as vital community centers in rural communities and a place where people can “exist outside of their homes for free.”
She spoke about the popularity of her library’s programs, and how the state library has provided her and other librarians with free summer reading training called Jump Start that’s helped her provide a high-quality summer reading program for free.
“All this would not have been possible without the South Dakota State Library,” Jones-Lutter said. “The state library provides services and resources so that us rural libraries can meet the needs of our community, and become vital community centers for them.”
More: State Library budget cut would hamstring local libraries, opponents say
Natasha Noethlich, director of the Doland Community Library, said the state library helped her library become a success story. Doland has a combination school and city library. Noethlich took over in 2019 as a volunteer when there was no school librarian, nothing was digitized and books weren’t being updated.
“The library was a mess,” she said.
In 2018, only 250 people visited the library throughout the year, and only two children were in the summer reading program. But by 2024, Noethlich said 6,208 people visited the library over the course of the year, and there were over 1,000 people of all ages in the summer reading program.
The state library helped establish Doland’s library website, helped with resources for the summer reading program and provided Jump Start training.
“I’ve often said, ‘I wish you could see the state library through my eyes,’ because they have helped us grow and thrive in our library, and it’s become a valued asset in our community,” Noethlich said. “From my point of view, a week, sometimes a day doesn’t go past where I don’t depend on the state library. They’re constantly sending me messages. They’re constantly helping me become a better librarian. They’re so invested in my library. They make me feel valued and important.”
Danielle Teigen, a member of the Doland Community Library Board, urged legislators not to be a state that “cuts crucial programs and services to the youngest constituents in South Dakota.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Librarians testify against South Dakota’s proposed state library cuts