Earlier this week, the House Appropriations Committee decided to accept the governor’s recommendation to reduce the budget for the law library. According to State Librarian Martha Reid, the department is working with a consultant to determine the best way to take the cut, but the law library will bear the brunt of the reduction.
State Librarian Martha Reid said Thursday, “The law library as we know it, I think it’s pretty clear that it’s going to disappear.”
Located in the Pavilion building in Montpelier, which also houses the state library, the law library is an important resource for Vermonters and small law firms, Reid said.
However, according to Reid, budget cuts over the last several years have shaved away at the collection of legal books. At this point, the bulk of the law library expenses are the librarian and access to Westlaw, an electronic reference service.
All week, legislators have been working to draw up a balanced budget for fiscal year 2016, which involves finding an additional $18.6 million on top of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s recommended budget.
Although the House budget has not been finalized, lawmakers have agreed to many of the cuts recommended by the governor.
With the library reduction already approved by the House Appropriations Committee, Reid said her priority is to minimize the amount of federal money that will be lost. Some of the funding that the department receives is a federal match for state funds, so if the state funds go away, the federal money does as well.
Reid expects that with the loss of federal match money, the department will be facing a $600,000 cut.
The state law library program costs less than a third of that amount, but Reid said the other programs that will be impacted by the cut are still to be determined.
When the committee finalized the reduction in the library appropriation this week, members discussed including language in the budget bill to reduce the impact that the cut would have on municipal libraries across the state.
Reid said, in general, that local town libraries will not feel a big impact from the budget cut. The department will likely reduce the digital catalog and possibly cancel subscriptions to items such as a genealogy database. Tasks may take longer as library staff is restructured.
“People might notice there’s a slowdown,” Reid said.
Reid is concerned that some programs, like the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, might see a reduction in staff. The library department has a program to record Vermont newspapers on microfilm, with a collection dating back to the 18th century. They may put the program on hold for a year, Reid said.
The Department of Libraries has been reaching out to other groups across the state to explore other ways that citizens may be able to access legal material. Reid said she had met with members of the Attorney General’s Office, the judiciary branch and Vermont Law School to discuss alternatives.
Defender General Matt Valerio said Friday that the closure of the law library would not necessarily impede Vermonters’ access to legal research materials.
“As a practical matter, in this day and age you can get done what you need to get done without going to the law library,” Valerio said.
