05/14/08 Governor Shows Support for Libraries at OLC Legislative Day
Governor Ted Strickland's remarks were well received by more than 350 library staff members, trustees, and Friends at the Ohio Library Council's annual Legislative Day on May 6 at The Westin Hotel in Columbus. He recognized Ohio as having the best public libraries in the United States with an approval rating higher than any other public service in the state. He said he supported the change in library funding from 5.7% of the personal income tax to 2.22% of the state's total general tax revenue in his 2008-2009 budget because Ohio's public libraries are a successful collaboration of state funding and local control.
The Governor spoke about the importance of the School Readiness Committee, chaired by Battelle CEO Carl Kohrt who introduced the Governor at the event, and was very complimentary of the public libraries' Ohio Ready to Read initiative (www.ohreadytoread.org) to help disadvantaged children be better prepared when they start kindergarten.
He pointed to the Ohio Public Information Network (OPLIN), which provides Internet access to more than 12,000 public computers in Ohio's public libraries, as a great success story of collaboration among libraries. By providing access to these computers and the Internet, public libraries have become incubators for emerging businesses.
In closing, the Governor discussed his Economic Stimulus Package and the November clean Ohio ballot issue as examples of how collaborative efforts can be a great benefit to Ohio and even stimulate the Ohio economy.
After a general session led by OLC Director of Government and Legal Services Lynda Murray and the Governor's speech, library representatives made visits to their state legislators. In addition to the Ready to Read initiative, public libraries' impact on early literacy and local economic development were key areas of discussion with General Assembly members.
“In my meetings with legislators, it is clear that public library representatives made quite a showing during Legislative Day. Representative Wolpert, who is the sponsor of the legislation introduced to study the consolidation of libraries and other local government political sub divisions (HB 521), was also very complimentary about public libraries, especially our work in early literacy,” said Murray.
Thank you to everyone who attended OLC Legislative Day 2008!
Photos of Legislative Day 2008 are available online (www.olc.org/LegislativeDay.asp) courtesy of Scott Weaver from the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
