National Library Week: GPL talks free services to all ages, education, and funding challenges
This special week so far has seen informational social media posts, promotion of their free events, encouragement of the issuing of library cards, and promotion of digital content available through the library.
Grace Thomas, Development and Community Engagement manager at the Goshen Public Library, had a lot to say on current and upcoming events for both adults, children, and families to enjoy for free. Thomas said that she is leading a digital literacy class in which adults can learn the basic functions of Word, Excel, and other digital programs.
'We're teaching digital literacy workshops, so computer basics,' she said. 'To adults in English and Spanish and again, they are totally free. We've been doing it since February. We were lucky enough to get a small grant from the American Library Association for that.'
Thomas said that the class can teach up to 10 participants and have had quite a few workshops with good participation.
'It's been really fun to see people get so excited about something that they're learning, that's going to be applicable to their life, and they cannot believe that it's free,' she said. 'Anytime I get to tell somebody that, it's the best day ever.'
The library prides itself in the ability of offering free programs for people of all ages. They also encourage parents to learn about internet safety, password management and overall information that will help them better monitor their kids who may use the internet or even themselves.
Among the workshops held at the library, they also offer family nights, once a month to participate in a themed activity.
'Our family nights are focused on being culturally relevant to our Hispanic community and things that parents and kids can do together,' Thomas said. 'And so we found that it is something that people really engage with.
'Last month was International Women's Day and we invited the mayor to come speak and read a story to the kids, which was really fun and Sandra Rodriguez McMasters, which was lovely.'
Participation has been great, Thomas emphasized and the library remains a tool for people in the city of Goshen, but it is not repellant to the changes statewide and federally. These changes will be challenging, but the library's leaders are committed to making the best of any challenges they may face, she said.
'Goshen is really supportive of its library, which we appreciate as much as all other public libraries,' Thomas said. 'In terms of funding challenges, libraries are kind of facing this pressure on funding from a couple different sources at once.
'Recently, the president issued an executive order that essentially halted the functioning of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is a federal organization that supports museums and libraries across the country,' Thomas explained.
'So they put staff on administrative leave and IMLS distributed funding to state libraries and then state libraries distributed funding to local libraries,' she said. 'Without that support, a lot of libraries will lose a good chunk of their budget that they have relied on for years.'
She continued, 'Locally, the way that that looks for us is we receive funding from the Indiana State Library and IMLS for things that we share across the state. So if you've ever heard of the inspired databases, other research databases, and Libby, those will be impacted.'
Thomas went on to explain the direct effects of the executive orders being passed such as the courier system that carries books and other materials between libraries for Inter-Library Loan, which is funded by the State Library. But these changes are on a federal level; there is more to come at a state level.
'The newest fiscal notes aren't out yet, but libraries are looking at a loss in revenue over the next few years as well as any other taxing bodies, like schools and city governments. SB1 also passed, which reforms property tax in the state and libraries are funded mostly through property tax,' Thomas said.
'We don't know exactly what that's going to look like yet, but it could be something that we're going to have to pay a lot of attention to.'
She also mentioned Senate Bill 1 being passed and raising more concerns for the Goshen Library that would cut their budget by 30%, which means services will be lost. Thomas said they're unsure what's to come but their game plan is to keep the community informed and continue to find ways to serve the community despite funding changes.
'Since this is National Library Week, we put together a very small social media campaign where we did one post every day and it was highlighting either a challenge or a benefit of something that you can interact with at the library,' she said.
'We also mentioned funding challenges and showed what you get with that money when the money is granted, such as access to digital materials,' she said. 'One of the really interesting posts was asking staff how much money they saved if they had purchased the materials that they accessed through the library over the last year. I think my number was like $5,000 over the last couple years if I had bought all the materials that I used from the library for free.'
Thomas knows there are shifts and changes coming their way but she invites the community to continue to use them as a resource and a place where everyone can have fun and learn together.
'Just come to the library,' she urged. 'We want people to feel comfortable and welcome in the building. This is their space and they should use it and we're happy to help guide them along the way.'
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