When Gov. John Kasich submits his proposed biennial budget, the future of many libraries across Ohio could be in doubt.

Both academic and public libraries depend on funding from state government in some capacity but would probably be affected differently if funding is cut.

While academic libraries rely on funding from universities and colleges, many public libraries depend on the Ohio Public Library Fund for the majority of their funding.

Because of it’s dependence on the library fund, public libraries would be more directly affected than academic libraries depending on funding for higher education.

“If funding for higher education gets cut and Kent State University for example isn’t getting as much support from the state as in the past, that could have an impact on the library,” said Beverly Cain, state librarian of Ohio. “If the legislature in the next biennial budget makes a cut to the public library fund, the impact for public libraries will be direct.”

Academic libraries refer to libraries that support institutions of higher learning including universities and community colleges. Along with support from their respective institution, academic libraries also receive funding through endowment funds.

Cain says that academic libraries have cut back on faculty positions, expenses for research and the resources available to students while others are combining resources. At some universities, special libraries, such as medical libraries, have combined into the main library.

Despite potential cuts for higher education, University Library Dean James Bracken said the library will continue to provide the same services it currently does. Every week Bracken meets with an executive committee to outline what the library will do to get around funding cuts.

“We’re waiting to see what happens from the state, the state will tell the university, the university will tell us and then we’ll adjust,” Bracken said. “We’re planning for those things, but it’s nothing new we’ve been doing it all along.”

Bracken says there have been no funding cuts for the library recently making it possible to renovate the first floor of the building and contribute $230,000 to Ohio Link’s purchase of journal back files from Elsevier, a publisher in science and social sciences.

While academic libraries have found ways around funding cuts, public libraries have been significantly affected by cuts over the last two years. After the public library fund was reduced by 20 percent in 2009, the state decreased another 11 percent forcing public libraries to decrease their hours of operations and drop services.

According to the Ohio Library Council (OLC), funding for public libraries has decreased by nearly 23 percent since 2008. Despite 30 of 38 ballot requests in last November’s election passing, 94 of the 251 public library systems in the state without levies are 98 percent dependent on the public library fund.

Public libraries in Portage County are members of the Portage Library Consortium consisting of the Kent Free Library, the Portage County District Library and Reed Memorial Library. All of these libraries rely on public funding and had to make changes to adjust to funding cuts.

Carmen Zampini, the director of the Kent Free Library, told Kent Wired in a June 2010 article that 100 percent of the library’s funding came from the public library fund, the library lost two hours a day and was closed for two weeks in 2009.

In the same article, Cass Owens, director of the Reed Memorial Library, said the library experienced a hiring freeze while each full-time employee took a two-hour cut per week.

While the Kent and Reed are independent, the Portage County District consists of six different branch libraries throughout the county. Without local support from a levy, the district receives 95 percent of its revenue from the public library fund.

Last fall, Brimfield Township informed the district that it would not be able to continue financially supporting the Brimfield Library branch. After both parties met to discuss the future of the branch, it was decided that the library would close permanently on March 5.

“It is disappointing because we tried really hard back in 2009 not to close any branch which is how we ended up reducing hours at all of them,” said Cecilia Swanson, director of the Portage County District Library. “It’s really hard because we know that there are people there who need that branch in Brimfield.”

The district and Brimfield Township have discussed the possibility of re-opening the library if they can find a location where they do not have to use a rented space. The branch is currently located in the Brimfield Plaza.

Swanson said the one full-time employee and two part-time employees from the branch will be relocated to another branch in the district while the materials from the branch will be divided among the five other branches.

Since 2001, Swanson said the budget has gone down 33 percent with 24 percent being of the total decreasing since 2008. Any further cuts could potentially lead to more closings in the district.

“Should our budget be reduced further, I think [the Library Board of Trustees] are going to have to seriously look at whether or not we can maintain five branches,” Swanson said. “We made all the cuts we could in 2009 without closing anything else—we’re hoping since we got cut in 2009 that we don’t see severe cuts but it’s anybody’s guess at this point.”

Because the Brimfield Branch is a member of the consortium, patrons will be able to use their library cards at other branches and the other two libraries in the county.

Owens, the director of the Reed Memorial Library, said if people want to attend the Ravenna-based library it would not be a problem as people have attended the library when the district branches were closed on certain days.

“People are going to go to what’s closest and most convenient for them and for the Brimfield people that could be the Summit County library, or they may go north to Kent or if they work in Ravenna they may come here,” Owens said. “One of the strengths of the public libraries in Ohio is because we have the state funding that we have, we’re not preventual (?) about our boundaries. You can go and get a card in Cuyahoga County whether you live Cuyahoga County or not.”

While all public libraries are waiting to find out what will be cut, Doug Evans, executive director of the OLC, and the council will continue to remind legislators about the significance of public libraries.

“We are currently showing business to the legislature and at least laying the groundwork for the good work that public libraries across the state do and talking about the impact the last budget decisions had on the state,” Evans said. “We’re not making any predictions as to what the budget’s going to look like—we’re not going to know that until March 15 and at which point we’ll have a better understanding of what the governor’s proposing for the state budget.”