Library Foundation's Annual Appeal Campaign

The Ithaca Journal
November 27, 2006
by Suzanne Smith Jablonski, Executive Director of the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation

The Tompkins County Public Library recently received this note from a patron named Alison: “Stories in the Park was the first children’s activity that we attended after moving to Ithaca, and we’ve made many friends through going to Toddler Storytime. It means a lot that you know and greet [my daughter] by name. You’re an important part of what makes this community such a wonderful place in which to raise children.”

Experiences like this one are the reason why each year generous, thoughtful people choose to contribute to the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation’s annual appeal campaign. In the library’s October guest column, TCPL trustee Robert Sullivan underscored how critical contributions are in enabling the library to provide the services and programs patrons need. Yet supporting the library is not merely about bridging budget gaps or offsetting funding shortfalls; it’s about helping people of all ages and backgrounds enrich their lives.

For so many people in our community, our library is not a frill or an extra; it is an essential part of their existence. For Alison, the library helped her and her daughter feel at home in a new place. George visits every day to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities available online, like email and newspapers, since he has no computer of his own. An immigrant family from Sri Lanka comes each Saturday to check out books and videos they otherwise couldn’t afford, which help them brush up on their English skills. Children Sandra and Paulina, who got to know the library through an outreach program, now bring their father and grandfather who’d never before used the library, so that all three generations benefit from what the library has to offer.

The theme of this year’s appeal is “Our Lively Library Lives!” Unlike the hushed libraries of yesteryear or popular imagery, the library is alive with activity. This year’s campaign chairperson, Carol U. Sisler, offers this explanation of why she has chosen to lead the fundraising effort. “The public library has meant a great deal to me and my family over the years. Books were and are a central interest in our sons’ lives. When they were youngsters, I always read to them before they went to sleep. My husband, Dan, who was blinded while serving in the U.S. Air Force in 1954, is an avid listener to audio books. To write my books on local history, I spent hours reading old newspapers on microfilm at the library – the only place they’re available. I’m leading this year’s campaign because I want all families in Tompkins County to have the same chance to learn and be enriched. I hope my fellow community members will join me in the effort to keep our library lively today and tomorrow.”

Here’s what you make possible with your gift to the annual appeal campaign:

You unlock a universe of knowledge, information and enjoyment. At its core, the library is still about books and other materials like recorded books, magazines, music CDs and DVDs. With your gift, you support the library’s ability to purchase, process, check in and out and shelve materials, so patrons can get what they want, when they want it.

You inspire children to become lifelong learners. Libraries have always helped elementary school aged kids. Today, we start from birth, showing parents and little ones the joy and value of reading. For school-aged children, the library is a homework help center; for teens, it’s a safe, inviting out-of-school spot.

You can put 21st century literacy within reach. The library levels the playing field, providing resources and services that help people of all incomes learn to read, use computers, make good decisions in an information-rich world and develop other skills they need to succeed.

You help unify our community. By offering arts, culture and science programs free of charge and open to all, the library brings together people with mutual interests as well as those who might not otherwise have an opportunity to connect.

With your gift, you help individuals and families flourish, and make ours a better place to live and work. We are truly grateful to all those who take part in this year’s campaign.

To find out more about how you can contribute to the “Our Lively Library Lives!” Annual Appeal Campaign, please call 272-4557 extension 232.

Library's Funding Comes from Multiple Sources

The Ithaca Journal
October 30, 2006
by Robert Sullivan, Tompkins County Public Library trustee and Chair of the Library's Public Information Committee


Members of the Tompkins County Public Library’s Board of Trustees are often approached by people who have questions to ask, or comments to make, about the Library. We don’t think of that as a problem. On the contrary, it’s one of the real pleasures of serving on the Board. Anyone who knows anything about the people of Tompkins County knows that they are engaged and passionate about the things that matter to them. Any member of the Board can tell you that the Library matters, deeply, to many people in Tompkins County. This becomes particularly clear about this time every year when the Library’s budget is being considered by the County Legislature. That’s because every Fall our hopes for the Library – when it can be open and what it will contain – are examined in the light of the realities of paying for them. I know that when I came onto the Board I needed to have a few issues straightened out for me before I could really understand how funding the Library works. I hope the following clarifies some questions you might have about our budget.

Who is responsible for the Library? Many of us think of the TCPL as being either “The Ithaca Library” or just “The Library.” In fact, though, the Library is chartered to serve all of Tompkins County. Our patrons come from all over the County, in numbers roughly representative of the make-up of the County, urban, rural, and suburban. Although some towns, such as Ulysses and Groton, also have separately chartered municipal libraries, many of the people in those towns use the County Library, and the County Library, in turn, provides their municipal libraries with important services. So, the Library is a County responsibility and the County Legislature funds roughly 75% of the Library’s operations from tax revenues. What about support from other governmental entities? Sales tax from the City of Ithaca represents .4% of our revenue. Federal support through the Institute of Museum and Libraries is directed for specific grant proposals and State support which represents 4.3 % of our budget has been flat at for nine years.

What about private giving? The Library is greatly fortunate to have the support of two marvelous, hard-working, and very generous groups, the Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library. The Tompkins County Public Library Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission support the Tompkins County Public Library. The Foundation is a separate entity from the Friends of the Library and the Tompkins County Public Library with its own board of directors, mission and by-laws. The Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library is a not-for-profit organization the purpose of which is to stimulate public interest in the library, purchase library materials, and support other cultural and educational programs in Tompkins County. Many people know the Friends because of their fabulous book sales. Together these two philanthropies provide the Library with a full [cash amount and %] of its budget, far in excess of the national average for philanthropic support for public libraries. The Friends and the Foundation are supposed to be providing the Library with support ‘above and beyond’ its core functions, payroll, upkeep, and regular purchases for the collection. Unfortunately, for the last few years we’ve had to use some of this philanthropic giving to fund these core Library functions. The Library literally couldn’t keep its doors open without the generous support of the Friends and the Foundation. Why?

A little history. When the Library moved from its old building on Cayuga Street the County Legislature was put in a quandary. Everyone agreed that the new building was a huge and necessary improvement over the old facility. However, it would have been fiscally impossible for the County to immediately take on the full funding of the Library, Simply put, the new facility was so much larger that filling it up with books and staffing it appropriately could not be done all at once. So, for the past [5 right?] years, funds from private giving have had to make up the gap between what the Library requires in order to perform its basic functions and what the County Legislature can realistically ask from taxpayers. This has lead, for instance, to the anomalous and ultimately untenable situation where the Friends [and Foundation] have for several years provided the Library with its entire materials budget.

What next? Fortunately, due to an ongoing collaborative effort between the Library and the County Legislature this gap is being narrowed every year. Though not at zero quite yet, it’s the hope of all that as soon as possible the County will be funding core Library functions, such as payroll and materials, and the private donations of our generous donors to the Friends and Foundation will be supporting those enhancements to Library services that we all so much want to see. When that day comes the Library and the County Legislature will still need to make difficult and important decisions about the budget. Hopefully, though, the answers we give to questions from patrons and taxpayers will be simpler than they are today.