UPDATE @ 4:50 p.m. Thursday: As of Thursday morning, the latest fundraising total in Schlow’s ongoing campaign was about $19,000, according to the library. An earlier report is posted below.
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Two weeks in, a community fundraising campaign to strengthen Schlow Centre Region Library has already raised some $10,000, library Director Catherine Alloway estimated Tuesday.
‘People in this community have been incredibly generous,’ she said.
One donor dropped a $100 bill on a library desk; another, a child, gifted all of his birthday money to the cause.
If Schlow reaches its $60,000 goal in the annual campaign, the contributions will effectively offset the $60,000 overall decline in state funding the library is anticipating in the 2011 fiscal year. For the 2010 year, the State College-based library received from the state about $444,000 of its nearly $2.1 million budget.
That state contribution has been eroding since 2003, with the library having lost about $116,000 in annual state aid during the past three years alone, Alloway said. If worsening financial conditions compel the state to trim more than $60,000 from the Schlow budget for 2011, she said, the library may be forced to reduce its operating hours.
Schlow already let go two employees last year as a result of the ongoing budget cuts, trimming the staff to 15 full-time and 16 part-time workers.
Still, the state cuts aren’t the sole source of financial pressure at the library. Alloway said postage, maintenance and utility costs all are on the rise, squeezing finances as the library administration pieces together a proposed budget for calendar year 2011.
Administrators are considering a variety of revenue-building options for the budget. One idea is to charge $1 apiece for rentals of entertainment DVDs, now available free of charge. A number of area libraries already charge for those rentals.
Another option, Alloway said, is to begin charging nonprofit groups a fee for use of library space. She said other possibilities are under consideration, as well.
But she emphasized that the ideas are just that — ideas — and would need approval from the library board before reaching fruition.
‘This is a really good library in a really supportive community, and I really hope we can weather this storm,’ Alloway said. She said she doesn’t think state funding will rebound any time soon, and that the Centre Region municipalities — which provide just more than $1 million annually to the library — ‘can’t bridge the gap right now.’
‘I have to come up with a whole new business plan’ for the long term, Alloway said. ‘It could even include bringing a coffee bar in here.’
More immediately, an initial, proposed library budget for 2011 will go before the municipal governments for review in mid-September. They will vote on that budget by mid-November.
The library board has not asked the municipal governments to increase their contributions to Schlow for 2011. It will be up to the governments, Alloway said, to decide whether they want to try to help the library with more funds.
‘I’m trying my hardest to raise some money so they don’t have to,’ she said. ‘But it’s a losing proposition with some costs going up and income going down.’
Meanwhile, library usage continues to climb every year, propelled in part by the downturned economy as patrons seek low-cost pastimes and resources.
At a State College Borough Council meeting this week, several members indicated a willingness to use more local funds and help Schlow through its financial struggle.
‘We should minimize cuts in the levels of service,’ member Peter Morris said at the Monday council meeting. If Centre Region municipalities are able to fill the gap left by the latest state-funding reduction, he said, they ought to do so.
It remains to be seen how the Centre Region municipal governments as a whole will respond to Schlow’s financial situation. Discussions at the regional level are expected next month.
Earlier coverage: State College Council Mulls Library Funding
