Oral Presentations - Session 1B: UC 327
Supplementing Our Library Funds
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Megan Stark
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Mansfield Library
Abstract / Artist's Statement
When the economy is at its lowest point, library use is at its highest. This is especially true of community oriented rural towns, where libraries preserve community history, organize community programs, and provide internet access. However, an economic downturn is also when library funding from the state is in danger of being cut from smaller communities. Drawing from a survey that I sent to the Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) List Serve, as well as from ARSL members’ budget reports, my paper examines how rural libraries are currently supplementing their budgets. In the survey, I asked about grants, library groups, fundraising, and community use. The majority of the libraries that responded indicated that their outside funding comes mostly from grants, selling old library books, and groups that support the library. The purpose of my paper is to examine how successful these programs are, and to identify the most effective methods for supplementing library budgets. This paper encourages librarians, working in small rural libraries, to embrace unconventional ways of fundraising in order to better fund their many uses.
Supplementing Our Library Funds
UC 327
When the economy is at its lowest point, library use is at its highest. This is especially true of community oriented rural towns, where libraries preserve community history, organize community programs, and provide internet access. However, an economic downturn is also when library funding from the state is in danger of being cut from smaller communities. Drawing from a survey that I sent to the Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) List Serve, as well as from ARSL members’ budget reports, my paper examines how rural libraries are currently supplementing their budgets. In the survey, I asked about grants, library groups, fundraising, and community use. The majority of the libraries that responded indicated that their outside funding comes mostly from grants, selling old library books, and groups that support the library. The purpose of my paper is to examine how successful these programs are, and to identify the most effective methods for supplementing library budgets. This paper encourages librarians, working in small rural libraries, to embrace unconventional ways of fundraising in order to better fund their many uses.