A statement will be drafted the week of Jan 27. It will be discussed
among the coalition chairs and the statement will then be finalized and
sent to the Governor.
I am asking for your help. Please write, email, and visit your
Florida legislators. Make them aware of this very grievous error that
they are about to commit. We cannot lose Florida's treasures.
I would recommend people outside of Florida to send letters and
e-mails to:
Governor Bush
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850) 488-4441
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Emails and addresses for the House of Representatives and Senators can
be found at http://www.leg.state.fl.us/.
Facts
Below are the details, as I know them today.
1. The Governor has proposed for the 2003-4 budget ZERO dollars
for the Florida State Library and Information Services Division. http://www.ebudget.state.fl.us/
2. It has been proposed that the Florida State Library be eliminated and
holdings transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee by July
1.
3. The proposed budget cuts $17.6 million from the Florida State University
(FSU) state funding
and President T. K. Wetherell said "The way it looks is that
someone wants us to assume a responsibility but with no money
(provided)." In addition, FSU has limited parking, and their own
library is lacking so much space that they use warehouses for some of
their holdings. The FSU library would need to hire more staff to
facilitate the book processing and increased reference questions and at
the same time, reduce their expenditures.
4. The Florida State Library and Archives Division is now part of the
Department of State, and is responsible for the State Library, the State
Archives, state record keeping and library development services/grants
programs for public libraries throughout the state.
5. The proposal for the Bureau of Archives and Records Management is
for the Records Management responsibilities to become a part of the
Department of Management, and for the State Archives to fall under the
parks department of the Department of Environmental Protection.
6. The FloridaMemory.com project will be in jeopardy. This site now
contains the photographic collection (over 90,00 pictures), Florida
Pension Application Files, Spanish Land Grants, Call and Brevard Family
Papers, and many more documents of Florida's early history.
7. The Governor's budget must not pass the Florida Legislature. Session
will begin March 4th. We still have time to change the tide.
Below are newspaper articles via the Internet:
Is state library about to die? - Tallahassee Democrat http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5018483.htm
Bush: Agency merger would save millions - Tallahassee Democrat http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5000843.htm
A LETTER FROM BARRATT WILKINS, RECENTLY RETIRED STATE LIBRARIAN OF
THE FLORIDA STATE LIBRARY
Folks: First, thanks to all for their good wishes on my retirement. I
hope to see many of you at the Reception on January 30, so we can visit
again for a short time. I am beginning to settle into my new routines,
which includes time each day in surfing the Internet and WWW.
During my searching, I came across the Governor's Recommended Budget
for FY2003-04. I assume many of you have seen the e-version of this
document by now. It came out on Tuesday.
One of the most startling changes is the elimination of the
Department of State and the Department of Community Affairs to form a
new "Department of State and Community Partnerships". The two
departments did have a combined workforce of 1026 FTE and a budget of
$913,580,202. The new Department will have a workforce of 597 FTE and a
budget of $740,738,101. ALSO, the divisions of Library and Information
Services, Cultural Affairs, and Historical Resources are eliminated and
NOT part of the new Department. In fact, it is difficult to find the
word "library" in the recommended budget. The new Department
has a new [Division of] Community Planning and Assistance, and within
that new division there is a new unit called "Community Assistance
Grants" which has the responsibility to administer grants for
community development and revitalization ($91.2 million), cultural
opportunities ($16.4 million for cultural and historic preservation
grants), EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ($45.6 million in library grants and
library construction), executive leadership and support services ($10.1
million -117 positions to administer grants); and land resources ($82.3
million). Somewhere between 25 and 29 of the positions in executive
leadership and support services would be assigned administration and
support of library grants.
"Educational Support" is made up of the following grants:
State Aid to Libraries $32.4 million (no change) Library Cooperative
Grants 1.2 million (no change) Library Construction Grants 5,996,157
Federal Aid to Libraries 5,996,157
It would appear that the only staff assigned to administer these
grants would be the 25-29 positions in current Bureau of Library
Development and Administration Service units, in the current Division of
Library and Information Services. This would be the ONLY staff! I did
learn that an error was made in the Governor's Recommended Budget, and
that instead of State Archives and Records Management being transferred
to the Department of Management Services, it is now proposed to be
transferred to the Department of Environmental Protection under State
Parks and Recreation. DEP is going to be the new home for Archives and
Records Management and the staff will be reduced. I suspect that the
Florida Memory program as currently funded would be in jeopardy. The
state Library of Florida (Bureau of Library and Network Services) is
slated to close effective July 1, 2003, with the layoff of all 36
employees in that unit. The collections are supposed to go to Florida
State University, although that university does not have any room to
house 10.7 linear miles of materials in the State Library. FSU Library
currently utilizes two warehouses for its overflow collection. The
closure includes the State Library's operations in the Capitol, called
"Legislative Library Services". The antecedents of the State
Library began with Statehood in 1845, and the creation of what became
the State Library was among the first 15 acts of the new state's
legislature. Much of the Florida's history is in the collections:
Florida Collection - contains over 236,000 items including printed
materials, state government document, maps, and microfilm reels.
There is also an unprecedented 113-file drawer of pamphlets,
manuscripts, and other materials collected by W.T. Cash, Dorothy Dodd,
and State Library staff for nearly 80 years.
The Florida collection contains materials acquired by the State
Library before the Civil War and during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. [There is a rumor that this collection would follow the State
Archives to State Parks and Recreation]
General Collection - contains nearly 900,000 items including bound
books, federal documents, periodicals, films, 9700+ videos with public
performance rights, and materials in the legislative library service. [I
have heard that one of the reasons to disburse this collection is
because it only had some 70,000 circulations from its 330,000 bound
books collection each year. While this may seem small in comparison to
public libraries, when one compares the circulation to the other state
libraries in the nation, Florida ranked 10th in circulation. Florida
also ranked 2nd in the nation in reference transactions and 6th in
public service hours. The State Library is a special library not a
public library and can only be compared with statistics of the other
state libraries.]
The concept of the Division of Library and Information Services was
to be a "one-stop shop" for Florida residents to have free
access to information about Florida's history, culture, and life in all
formats including visual images, and provide assistance in the
development of library, archival, and records management services
statewide.
Questions for the library community: With the proposed elimination of
the State Library and a cost savings of approximately $3 million
annually, what happens to the state documents depository program? What
happens to Florida's interlibrary loan network (FLIN)? Audio-visual
services? And will public access to the collections be preserved in an
academic setting? What is the definition of public access?
With the elimination of FLIN, will libraries now be allowed to charge
one another for interlibrary loans?
What kind of access will be afforded to the State Archives? With a
reduction in staff will lawyers, legislative staff, and other
researchers have as easy an access to these resources as currently
afforded? Will genealogists still have the public access they have
enjoyed? Will the popular Saturday hours continue? How will new
materials for the collection be acquired for the state's genealogy
collection since a portion of the State Library's book budget is
dedicated to that purpose?
How will FloridaMemory.com be maintained in a DEP setting since it
received some of its support from federal LSTA grants?
When all of the institutions (State Library, State Archives,
Legislative Library Services, Records Management and State Records
Center) currently in the Division of Library and Information Services
are no longer together, how long do you believe that "library
grants" and the consultants in Library Development will survive?
One only needs look at the experience in the Department of Education and
the elimination of consultants for some insight about what may happen.
When there is no longer a "State Library" presence in
Tallahassee, embodied in the R.A. Gray Building, how fast will the
visibility and support for library grants and programs disappear?
What is going to happen to the Gray Building? Is it to become empty?
I have been surprised with the SILENCE of the Florida Library
Association about these matters since the news has been out for several
days. Perhaps you should contact the FLA President and find out what
response the Association is going to make to these proposals. I
understand that a meeting called under the auspices of the FLA
Legislative Committee on January 30 at the Leon County Library from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m. to assist them in developing an FLA response may be
having some difficulties. Are you planning to attend? Somebody needs to
be asking questions. Although I am now retired, as an honorary life
member of FLA I think I have the right to call this situation to the
attention of a wider audience. For those receiving this email, I would
appreciate your sending it to colleagues on library list serves and by
other means. I no longer have the resource to hit a few buttons and
blanket the state with a message.
Best wishes to all of you!! Barratt
E-mail: barratt.wilkins@mac.com
Submitted by:
Pam Cooper
Co-Chair, FGS/FSGS 2003 Conference
President, Florida State Genealogical Society
Chair, Librarians Serving Genealogists
P. O. Box 7066 Vero Beach, FL 32961-7066
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