Federal:
Federal library advocates pushed for strong advocacy efforts to Congress to show support for federal appropriations for libraries and library programs. Advocacy efforts were on par with last year, with over 14,000 e-mails and over 740 tweets to legislators. However, the House Budget Committee released it’s first FY 2017 Resolution on the budget on March 23 (“a non-binding document that nonetheless conveys the majority’s philosophy”) that proposed cutting ALL federal library funding. This is only the first step in a long process of budget decisions, and many first resolutions are not adopted. But it demonstrates the need for continued library advocacy efforts to ensure federal funding. For more information, see the District Dispatch.
State:
Still no movement on the budget. Governor Rauner was recently quoted in the Chicago Tribune on the potential shut-down of Chicago State: “I am very upset Chicago State University may have to close their doors and ask for the keys from employees. That’s an outrage. That should never have happened. There’s really no excuse for it.” In the meantime educators, school administrators, and others are starting to speculate about the long-term effects of the budget debacle: “My overall concern is the tarnishing of the brand of higher education in the state of Illinois that this budget impasse is creating,” Illinois State President Larry Dietz said to the Tribune. “Every day, every month that we have this uncertainty is another day and another month that tarnishes that brand.”