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However, Rendell was recently forced to veto that budget, and Payne said that means there is a chance the next new draft will not include such drastic funding cuts for Pennsylvania's libraries.
"I hope that we can get the funding restored," he said. "The budget, for all intents and purposes, is dead.We're back to square one. My attitude right now is there are no cuts."
According to Payne, there is a great deal of work to be done in crafting a new version of the budget, so it could be months before there is any definitive answer on the library funding issue. "I think it's gonna be a long summer," Payne said.
Even if that money is not restored, though, Hershey's library would not be affected as drastically as many other Pennsylvania libraries, since it is independently funded primarily by the township and donors.
Still, according to the Friends of the Hershey Public Library, it could stand to receive $48,500 less in state aid than it did last year.
"We're fortunate that we're well-funded from local sources compared to some of the other libraries around," Glennys Button, the library's electronic resources coordinator, said. "[But] we're obviously concerned. We're hoping that it won't pass as it is."
To that end, the Friends and the library's board are trying to persuade lawmakers to make sure their funding is not cut. According to board president Laurell Tarka, the two groups have been sending letters to politicians explaining just how important the at-risk funding is to the Hershey Public Library's numerous community programs.
"The proposed budget cuts would necessitate eliminating all of the adult programs and classes we currently offer," one such letter, addressed to state Rep. John Payne, states. "Last year, the Hershey Public Library entertained and educated 10,436 children along with their parents and caregivers through story times with babies, toddlers and preschoolers, visits to local day care facilities, field trips by scouting groups, and school classes concerts, puppet shows and science activities. The proposed budget cuts would mean eliminating all or most of these programs."
The letter goes on to detail another possible effect of a reduction in state funding.
"The Hershey Public Library has computers for public use, which provide many services to a large cross section of our community. Cutting state funds would significantly reduce our ability to maintain current services and severely curtail the amount of funds we would have available for maintenance of our equipment."
According to Button, the library is taking a wait-and-see stance for now, and no definitive decisions on what programs and services might be cut back or eliminated have been made yet.
"We would hate to do that because they're really appreciated by our users," she said. "Our library board and the Derry Township Supervisors would be involved in any decision we have to make."
However, Button did say that cutting back on the library's operating hours is a definite possibility.
"We've been talking to the other library systems," she said. "Obviously, some of the decisions they make would affect us. If they close on a particular day, it would be very hard for us to pick up the slack, so we would have to consider some of the same things."
In addition, Button said that the numerous research capabilities the library affords its patron may also have to be reduced next year. Since it must pay the library district for services such as the interlibrary loan program, she said that if funding is cut, there may not be enough money to pay for those services.
According to Button, it has taken years of hard work to get library funding to where it is today.
"The funding for libraries until a few years ago wasn't as generous as it is now," she said. Button said she hopes that some of that hard-won progress will not be undone by the Governor's budget.
