The second of on November鈥檚 ballot in New Mexico is about whether to boost the resources available at public and school-based libraries. At around $19 million, it would be the statewide library bond.
If approved, will be split up, with $6 million each going to public libraries, K-12 school libraries, and academic libraries at colleges and universities, and another $1 million going to the 17 libraries on tribal lands.
requests the funds from lawmakers on behalf of all the state鈥檚 libraries. , they requested $9.5 million, but chair of the NMLA legislation committee Joe Sabatini said this year the state had more money.
鈥淪o we said 鈥楲et鈥檚 ask for double what that one was,鈥欌�� he said.
With local government oversight, the libraries can use their portion of the bond for books, other print and electronic media and equipment.
The academic libraries based on student enrollment, so the larger universities get the bulk of the funds. But before they divvy it up, they pool a third of it and buy a suite of shared electronic resources that some smaller colleges may not be able to afford otherwise.
鈥淎nd that way, if you鈥檙e at Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, but somebody has a technical question about nursing that鈥檚 in a database about nursing 鈥� well, that happens to be in the package,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that student and that faculty member get what the big guys get.鈥�
Public and tribal libraries can spend some of their share of the bond on broadband infrastructure and even furniture and fixtures.
Sabatini said New Mexico voters have never rejected a library bond since they began in 2002 to appear on the ballot every other year.
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e grateful to the citizens who continue to support this investment,鈥� he said.
The statewide property tax rate will not go up if this 鈥� or any of this year鈥檚 three bonds 鈥� pass, according to the state鈥檚 Department of Finance and Administration.
The Your New Mexico Government project is a collaboration between 九色网 and New Mexico PBS with support from the Thornburg Foundation.
