Meetings
Transcript: Select text below to play or share a clip
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: And you're live. Okay, this is House Education on April 9, continuing our discussion on S-two 32, an act relating to public libraries and the Department of Libraries. And now we are going to hear from the Vermont Library Association via Zoom. Welcome. Looking forward to your testimony. And just gonna turn it right over to you, Margaret. Thanks for being here.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Good morning and thanks for having me. I'm glad to have the opportunity to testify today. As you mentioned, I'm Margaret Woodruff. I'm the director of the Charlotte Library and the chair of the VLA's Government Relations and Advocacy Committee. The Vermont Library Association is a nonprofit whose members come from two zero two public and academic libraries in Vermont. Unlike libraries in many states, Vermont libraries do not have a centralized government body and do not receive any direct state funding. Beyond the individual relationships with our local towns and boards, libraries often end up problem solving in isolation. And VLA works to bring libraries together to develop, promote and improve library services and libraries across the state. Libraries stopped being quiet reading rooms many decades ago, as you probably know if you've been into a library recently and now are community spaces that welcome people of all ages and interests to engage, explore, communicate, and of course, read. S-two thirty two helps to support this diverse work in many ways and dovetails with the priorities identified by the Vermont Library Association as essential for the continued success of libraries and their communities. And these priorities include creating avenues for capital funding needed to keep libraries safe, welcoming and secure, assuring that library loan, interlibrary loan programs are reliable, accessible and stable, and recognizing and incorporating the initiatives of libraries into broader literacy efforts. By addressing these key needs, supporters ensure that libraries continue to serve their communities successfully. As I just mentioned, capital funding remains a huge obstacle to creating the safe and accessible spaces we strive to provide as librarians. According to the Vermont Department of Libraries, library buildings in Vermont are in need of $260,000,000 worth of basic improvements and deferred maintenance. From the largest libraries like the Rutland Free to the smallest library, the Charles D. Brainard Library in West Danville, many of these treasured institutions need substantial improvements and repairs to meet safety and access standards, as well as continue to provide vital services and resources that their respective communities expect and need. The 2023 working group report on the status of libraries in Vermont highlighted this critical situation, and this was further substantiated by the results of the Vermont Department of Libraries 2025 building survey. Here in Charlotte, we completed a much needed expansion renovation program in 2020, and this has transformed our library space into a community hub busy at all times of day with everything from story times to cooking lessons and book discussions to health care consultations. This improvement to the building and to our services would not have been possible without a bond through the Vermont Bond Bank, which was voted at Charlottetown meeting in 2019. The cost per year for this loan has been less than $25 per household. Staff at the Vermont Bond Bank have expressed continued willingness to work with municipalities to pursue library related projects in an accessible and fiscally responsible manner, creating a path forward for capital funding and addressing the critical condition of our institutions. S two thirty two clarifies eligibility for those projects to proceed at any Vermont public library, and we think it's an important inclusion. Whether old or new, inside the walls of Vermont libraries are the projects and programs that help promote early literacy and keep readers of all ages engaged and informed. The VLA is excited by the opportunities that S-two 32 may provide for Vermont libraries to do more. At the Charlotte Library, we host a kindergarten library card party before the start of school each August. Every incoming kindergartner gets their own library card as we welcome them into the library community. In addition, we have partnered with the Charlotte Central School up the road on a variety of summer and after school programs, such as our classical connections program that helped meet the middle school reading requirements. And all of these support reading and literacy outside of the classroom. The potential to reach more students and address the concern about reading ability and related academic achievement is real. And libraries are librarians and libraries are ready to do the work. The piece of S-two 32 that addresses the funding for these kinds of programs received a lot of attention while the Senate was working on the bill. Currently, libraries are not able to meet the requirements of the Agency of Education's grant application process in order to access the after school and summer reading program funding. The language in the bill voted out of the Senate represents a compromise that will ensure that the agency of education takes steps to change the process and make funding opportunities more accessible to libraries, including small libraries in rural communities, which are sometimes the only community spaces available to children and families and anybody who lives there. This language also leaves open the possibility of allocating a portion of these funds to the Department of Libraries directly. These funds could then be allocated to individual libraries for whom a larger grant application might be a barrier to the very programs that they seek to provide. Current funding for summer reading resources materials is capped at $350 per library. And that is what is available right now for us to move forward with any kinds of programs that we would like to do outside of funding that we might get from our towns. I was curious to note that there was a library referenced yesterday during the Agency of Education testimony about a program that involved the Bixby Library in Virgins, but I am not aware of that library getting any direct funding through the agency of education grant program. So I would be interested in learning more about that. Finally, celebrating libraries around state through the designation of Remote Library Day is a way to increase awareness of the broad and meaningful roles that libraries play in our communities. Many of our libraries have served as cold weather warming centers in winter and provide lunches along with summer reading programs when school is out. In communities that have been impacted by flooding, libraries serve as flood recovery hubs, providing affected community members with the information and access they need to begin rebuilding their homes and their livelihoods. We continue to work with partners in our towns and villages to meet community demand from creating dementia friendly spaces to offering access to employment training and preparation. We are delighted to have the opportunity to share our work and enthusiasm with the Remote Library Day designation, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Great. Thank you very much. Just to clarify, when they were talking about the Bixby Library program, it was an example of a library partnering with a grant recipient as part of the broader program that was being funded and offered. It was not a direct allocation to the Bixby from
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: that. Right. No. No. But I I so perhaps I misunderstood because it sounded like they were a partner in the program, and it from what I've learned, I was curious to know about that because that would be wonderful. But from what I've learned, it's more that they use the resources from the Bixby. They borrow their equipment. They borrow their snowshoes. They borrow their outdoor projector. The Commodore Club has. Got it. There doesn't seem to be any funding going to the Bixby to allow them to create programming that would help do the job that we all wanna do as librarians.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: I think probably the big question that the committee has, you made the statement, currently libraries are not able to meet the requirements of the Agency of Education's grant application process.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Could
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: you expand on that a little bit?
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Sure. I mean,
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: But I why are they not able to meet the requirements?
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Well, I think I would echo a little bit what Catherine Del Nio said yesterday. I think a lot of it is capacity. We are all small institutions here in Vermont. And even the biggest libraries, you know, it takes a lot to fill out that grant application. I took a quick look through the I've forgotten the term they used, but it's the document prior to applying for the grant and just the language and information that's included in there. I think you would have to have a pretty sophisticated understanding of grant writing to be able to even begin the application. So I think that's a barrier, and it's unfortunate because I think there's, you know, in small towns and villages across Vermont, the library sometimes, as I mentioned, is the only place where people can go to have an after school program and they're always free.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Great. And I think you're referring to the AOE mentioned that you sort of have to become a member or meet a certain level before you can apply for the grant.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Right.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: And what you're saying that even that is just from a capacity point of view of a small library, a pretty major hurdle.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Yeah, well, I think there's that, having, I know you have to have the UEI number and you sort of have to have those things at your fingertips or even have that infrastructure set up. And if you're a library that isn't open forty hours a week and you're the only person working in that library, just putting that stuff together can be complicated. But in addition to which, I believe the person from the agency of education yesterday referenced the preparation document. Again, that name slips my mind. But it's 48 pages or something of stuff that you have to read through. So even though the application itself is shorter than had been previously defined, there is a big preparation document that you have to kind of wade through before you're even starting on the application.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Great. Thank you. Josh, then Leanne.
[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: Can you expand on how you feel that the language in s two thirty two now adequately addresses the issue?
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: I'm sorry, could you say that again, how it does adequate?
[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: How it now adequately addresses the issue.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Yeah. Yeah, I think it opens the door for opportunity. And I think there's I mean, libraries are great collaborators. And there is nothing more than we would like to do than collaborate with the agency of education to have more kids reading, have them have safe, comfortable, engaging places, you know, after school and during the summer. So I think if we were able to, you know, access a very small portion of the funding through the Department of Libraries, I think that's critical just because, again, of the barrier of that application process through the agency of education, which is the barrier of the complexity of the application itself. And then the types of programs that you have to be trying to implement are a bit different from in scope and scale from the type of program that happens at an individual library. So if we were able to have some of that money earmarked to be allocated to the Department of Libraries for them to manage through a well respected and, you know, vetted application process. They've done this for years. It works well and, you know, there's documentation. We have to provide documentation about how we spend the money. So I don't think there's any question of accountability. And then in addition, you know, if they're able to streamline that application process, I still don't think that would be an answer for all libraries, but I think that would definitely open the door for more libraries to take part. Does that answer your question?
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Yes. Thank you. Thanks. Representative Harple?
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: Yeah. This is just a technical question. On the written document, it says that current funding for summer reading resources and materials is capped at 300 per library. But when you said it out loud, you said $350.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: I'm just double checking because it switched.
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: And
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: hang on just one minute, and I can tell you the accurate answer because we just got a notification that we are getting our check today. Dollars $3.50, yes.
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: Okay.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: That is the correct amount. Apologies for the mistake in my testimony.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Representative Emily Long.
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: We have two representative moms
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: in this county.
[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: So I'm not being called out, especially. I'm also trying to get used to it. My question sort of follows up on Representative Dobrovich. The question I'm wondering about is because this is specific to your organization, but it says here in the new language, a coalition or group of public libraries may also apply for a grant from the agency or department. What do you think? I actually think that sounds great, but I wonder whether you think that will help the capacity of smaller libraries to be able to get together. I don't know how your organization works together to bring everyone together.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Yeah. Well
[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: sounds like a great idea.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: It does. I think, again, as I've said, we love collaboration at libraries. And you can talk to any library in any town and they can tell you all the groups they partner with. I think it could open the door to more successful applications for libraries, to any successful applications for libraries. I guess the one thing that a couple of things come to mind. One would be just geography in terms of library, you know, a collaborative program across several towns. Think you would want to think about how that would work. You know, do you run the same program in each town and you're applying as a group and, you know, somebody does it on Mondays in this town and Wednesdays in that town and Fridays in the third town? So I think it would require some thought, but I think it it it could be a nice opportunity for sure.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: All right, thanks. All right, any other questions? This was really helpful to get the sort of small library perspective on this. Great, thank you very much.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Oh, you're welcome. If you have any other questions, just let me know.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Great, thank you. Thank you.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: Alrighty.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Alright everybody, so that is that until two. After
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: 04:30,
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: we'll get a little bit more on this discussion.
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: Betsy Han was estimating it's gonna be
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: an hour and a half.
[Margaret Woodruff (Director, Charlotte Library; Chair, VLA Government Relations & Advocacy Committee)]: So are
[Rep. Leanne Harple (Member)]: we coming back at two even afterwards? No.
[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: We will come back after the floor. Okay. Okay. Yep. And and then that will keep us apprised if that does not work for the witness.