Miami-Dade Library
Gets 10% Budget Boost
The Miami-Dade Public Library System received a nearly 10% budget increase from the board of county commissioners September 21. Assistant Director William Urbizu said the increase, one of the few to go to county departments this year and the first major boost to the library’s budget in 10 years, was the result of strong support from the mayor and the county manager.
Urbizu told American Libraries that some of the additional $6 million would go toward returning bookmobiles to communities where they were eliminated eight years ago in hopes of replacing the service with branches, a plan that was never realized; two new bookmobiles will hit the road late next year. Other new initiatives include a 1,200-square-foot early-childhood library that opened September 28, with another to follow in 2001; and two new homework-assistance centers, also set to open next year.
The budget boost will also allow the system to provide Sunday service, already offered at the Main Library and Key Biscayne branch, at three regional libraries.
Posted October 9, 2000.
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