BUDGET CUTTING COULD TRIM LIBRARY'S BOOK-BUYING POWER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992                   TAG: 9201140207
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
BUDGET CUTTING COULD TRIM LIBRARY'S BOOK-BUYING POWER
The next Tom Clancy novel may not be available at the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.
Or the latest book on AIDS.
And when they finally figure out if cholesterol is really bad for you or not - well, you may not read it there.
Not if Gov. Douglas Wilder's proposed 50 percent cut in state aid to public libraries is approved, anyway.
The state's $190,000 appropriation to the Montgomery-Floyd library system is only a portion of the system's total $850,000 budget. But it is the part that pays for new acquisitions, said Regional Library Director Carol Veitch.
If the cuts go through, said Veitch, the three libraries and two bookmobiles that make up the regional library system will lose some $95,000 currently earmarked for bestsellers, books on tape, large print books and children's books.
Also threatened is the purchase of the latest books on subjects of current interest - such as AIDS and cholesterol, Veitch said.
"When they said `50 percent,' it took us all by surprise," said Veitch, who was expecting a much smaller cut.
The state money - the rest comes from localities served by the libraries - makes up 82 percent of the system's book budget, Veitch said.
"You can't expect city governments and town governments to pick up that bill," she said. "They just don't have that kind of money."
To make up the loss, the libraries might have to pare hours instead, she said.
State budget officials say the library cuts are the lesser evil when compared to such priorities as education, health care and prisons.
"It wasn't because libraries weren't recognized as being important. When compared with everything else, that was viewed as being slightly less harmful," said Neal Menkes, manager of the budget operations section for the state's Department of Planning and Budget.
Veitch argued that a strong library system has value, too - though the payoff of a child who becomes interested in books and years later stays in school instead of dropping out may not be obvious right away.
"There is a payback to keeping libraries active and vital," she said. "Unfortunately, it's not a payback we can immediately identify."
Menkes, meanwhile, conceded the plan to halve the state's public library appropriations "certainly struck a nerve. . . . This has been a major concern in all our budget hearings."
In the end, he said, the decision is up to the General Assembly.
Asked if legislators were aware of the outcry against the library cuts, Menkes said, "I'm sure they've heard."
Veitch would like them to hear more.
"We're encouraging library supporters to vote or call their legislators, the governor, whoever, telling them what the library means to them."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB