Dear Community Members,

On behalf of the Cambridge City Public Library and its Board of Trustees, I would like to share with you a couple of significant developments affecting your local library. 

 

PART I—Federal Funding Change: An executive order was issued on March 14 calling for the elimination of funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. IMLS represents just 0.0046% of the federal budget, yet its return on that investment is enormous.

The Cambridge City Public Library depends on IMLS funding administered through our State Library to provide the Libby app for e-books. Last year, our patrons checked out 8,815 e-materials through Libby. In 2024, our library patrons borrowed 881 items from other libraries statewide through IMLS-funded InfoExpress. IMLS also funds the Evergreen and the INSPIRE databases for students of all ages doing research.

What does this mean for you? If the Indiana State Library loses its $3 million in funding from IMLS, that would dramatically affect the services like Evergreen, Libby, and INSPIRE that Cambridge City Public Library currently provides for our patrons.

How can you help? If you use and support libraries, I encourage you to contact your federal legislators.
Here are contact numbers for our area:

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Representative Jefferson Shreve: 202-225-3021
Senator Jim Banks: 202-224-4814
Senator Todd Young: 202-224-5623

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PART II—Proposed Local Funding Change (unrelated to the Executive Order referenced above):

Locally, Indiana Senate Bill 1 seeks to provide property tax relief to Indiana citizens. While well intentioned, the impact on libraries of SB-1 in its current form should be considered. This bill is currently in committee.

The impact of SB-1 on library funding will be difficult. Many small, hometown libraries like ours are already operating on a small budget without adequate cash reserves to weather such a storm over the long term.

The Indiana Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis estimates that the Cambridge City Public Library would see increasing reductions over the next few years, up to a -$21,570 reduction in funding by 2028 with SB-1.

To avoid structural deficits in the long term, we may need to cut staff hours. Our staffing level is already sub-optimal, with only 3.9 FTE employees, most of whom are part-time. We are proud that we have been able to serve the public for 38 hours each week. However, if SB-1 passes, staff hours cuts would likely cause cuts to service hours, diminishing the programs and services that we are able to offer you.

 

How can you help?
Contact your Indiana State Representative and State Senator. If library service is important to you, please let your state legislators know that you would like Senate Bill 1 to be amended to protect funding to libraries. State legislator contacts:

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Representative Brad Barrett: 800-382-9841
Senator Jeff Raatz: 800-382-9467

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I truly appreciate our community’s long history of strong support for the library since 1913. Please contact me with any questions at karen@ccitypl.org or ask for me at Cambridge City Public Library.

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Sincerely,

Karen Bays-Winslow
Director, Cambridge City Public Library