Scroll down to see the list of NNYLN regional state representatives including contact details and district maps.

Virtual Library Advocacy Day

February 26th, 2021, via Zoom

Your voice is needed on Friday, February 26 to convey to your local representative the importance of library services in our state. New York State funds its library infrastructure through sets of regional systems (public, school, and multitype research systems), and that funding is again threatened in the executive budget released earlier this year. A series of meetings is scheduled with North Country legislators to impress upon them the value of libraries, and you’re invited to participate. Click here to view availability and email Christi to sign up for the appropriate appointment(s).

Attendees should live or work within the district being represented, and be available for a planning meeting on Thursday, February 11 from 1:00-2:30 pm.

Schedule of Meetings:

Additional background:

The proposed $87M allocated for NY’s Library Aid Program represents a 7.5% cut to the budget enacted last year (of which 20% was withheld and has still not been distributed) and is 15% underfunded according to the $102.6M authorized in NY Education Law (which is an outdated figure that itself is lower than it ought to be).
The legislature can restore these cuts to Library Aid through its budget process, but that doesn’t happen automatically. They need to hear from us. Last year, the governor’s budget cut $20M from Library Construction Aid, and with the Covid chaos of last spring, that cut stuck and public libraries had $14M for capital improvements. That same $14M has been proposed in this year’s executive budget, and needs to be corrected. The construction needs of public libraries in NYS is estimated to be $1.5B.

Regional State Representatives