Posted July 28, 2003.

Funding Showdown for Tennessee Libraries

Commissioners in Dickson County, Tennessee, dared the state to carry out its threat to reclaim library books from counties and cities that fail to reinstate funds. At a July 21 meeting, despite a room packed with dozens of library supporters sporting “Libraries Change Lives” stickers, the commission refused to restore a $50,000 cut to the Dickson County Public Library’s 2003–2004 budget. This means that the county is out of compliance with state minimum standards and DCPL could forfeit some 20,000 books from its collection and $500,000 in state support for its bookmobiles, acquisitions, Internet access, and training programs.

“They’re not willing to listen,” trustee Bernie Dunham said in the July 23 Dickson Herald, “so my only understanding would be that they are content with the fact that we are going to lose a half-million dollars’ worth of state resources and will become the first library in the state of Tennessee to no longer be a part of the state library system.”

State Librarian Edwin Gleaves said he does not want to back up a truck to the library doors and remove materials, the Jackson Sun reported July 24. “We are trying to protect Tennessee’s public libraries,” he said, “by making sure local funding efforts are maintained,” adding that he hoped other local governments might rethink library cuts once they were “aware of the consequences.”

Other counties in the state, among them Weakley and Hardin, have also cut library budgets and face a similar threat.

Posted July 28, 2003.