Gov. Pataki Seeks Control of
New York State Library
New York Gov. George Pataki proposed taking control of the Office of Cultural Education, which oversees the New York State Library. Announced January 11 as part of the governor’s 2000–2001 budget, the plan would also move the state archives, the state museum, and the Office of Public Broadcasting to a newly created Office of Cultural Resources run by a nine-member board that Pataki would appoint. The departments currently reside in the Assembly-controlled Education Department.
Budget Division spokesperson Joe Conway said in a January 13 Associated Press report that the plan “would allow the Education Department to focus its attention where it belongs, on the classrooms.” Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education Carole Huxley countered that “A buffer between politics and libraries, public broadcasting, archives, and museums is an important thing.”
Huxley assured NYLINE discussion list subscribers January 11 that education officials would ask Pataki to reconsider funding the $22.95-million Libraries 2001 proposal endorsed by her department. The initiative would create the New York Online Virtual Electronic Library and the digitization of library-held primary-source materials, among other projects.
Posted January 24, 2000.
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