Public libraries on the southern Kenai Peninsula, left wondering how they will fund operating costs for fiscal year 2025 in the wake of a state grant program being dramatically reduced last month, may soon see financial relief.

The Public Library Assistance Grant is a noncompetitive grants program through the Division of Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums that annually provides up to $7,000 to public libraries in Alaska, including combined public-school libraries, for critical operating expenditures including staff, utilities, collection materials, computers and educational programming.

Funds are awarded annually to eligible libraries within the state of Alaska who apply for grant funding. According to Homer Public Library Director Dave Berry, the flow of funding for PLA grants goes from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums. From there, funding is dispersed through the State Library to the eligible library applicants.

Historically, the PLA Grant program has awarded between $6,000 and $7,000 annually to each eligible library. In fiscal year 2024, a total of $553,000 was awarded to 79 Alaskan libraries that each received a $7,000 grant. This year, 82 public libraries across the state are only receiving $1,829 apiece — a reduction to expected state funding of approximately 74%.

As of press time, neither DEED nor LAM have responded to requests from Homer News for comments on why the PLA grant funding was cut.

According to a statement issued by LAM Director Dr. Amy Phillips-Chan, however, the FY25 reduced PLA grant amount is “not related to a budget veto of the governor.”

“Funding available for the grant program is currently subject to increased expenditures and/or budget shortfalls within the annual operating budget for the Division of Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums,” she wrote. “Available funds within the division budget were $150,000 this year. 82 public libraries were eligible for the PLA grant, which means that every library outlet will be awarded $1,829.”

In accordance with the grant reduction, per Alaska Statute 14.56.330 (a) which states that the amount of a basic grant — such as the PLA grant — must be equally matched by local money, the fair value of volunteer labor, or a combination of local money and volunteer labor, the minimum local match requirement for FY25 has been reduced to $1,829. Additionally, the required portion of grant funds that must be spent on library materials and online services has been reduced from $3,500 to 50% of the award amount — in this case, approximately $915.

Alaska State House District 6 Rep. Sarah Vance confirmed that the grant reduction did not come from the state Legislature.

“We did not cut funding to the state libraries,” she told Homer News on Aug. 28. “I went back to our budget and double checked myself.”

During a legislative update presentation to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Sept. 3, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman said that the state Legislature fully funded the PLA Grant program, and the decision to not fully fund the PLA Grant was made “within the Department of Education and the library system somewhere.”

“We have not been able to identify why that money left that program or where it went, only that the money was not given initially to that grant program,” he said. “Somehow in the allocation process from DEED to (LAM), that money went away.”

Borough Mayor Peter Micciche called the lack of funding an “administration issue.”

“We know where the money is. Three positions that haven’t been filled for many years were filled by (LAM),” he said. “Apparently bureaucrats in Juneau are more important than volunteer librarians all over the state. We need to reach out to the administration … That $7,000 evaporating is the end of the world for most of our libraries.”

Micciche said that he is “in contact with” DEED and expects the funding to be returned immediately or for alternative funding to be found.

According to an email distributed to Alaskan library applicants by Dr. Phillips-Chan on Sept. 4, LAM, DEED and the State are “presently working to provide the total grant payout to $7,000 for each Alaskan public library eligible for the FY2025 Public Library Assistance Grants Program.” Supplemental award letters will be sent out by Oct. 15.

“As far as I’m aware, they have not yet identified a funding source for that, but they did say they are going to do it by Oct. 15,” Berry told Homer News on Tuesday.

DEED has also received legislative concerns regarding the FY2025 PLA grant, Dr. Phillips-Chan wrote.

Library users and members of the public are encouraged to continue submitting comments on the importance of the PLA grant to local libraries to eed.library.grants@alaska.gov.

Mitigating the effects

The Homer City Council passed Ordinance 24-44 at their regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 23, accepting and appropriating the $1,829 PLA grant amount for the Homer Public Library. According to the ordinance, the local match is also funded in the city’s FY2025 budget.

A Sept. 6 backup memorandum to the council from Berry describes the Sept. 4 update from Phillips-Chan.

“Following instructions from the division, we are introducing Ordinance 24-44 to accept the original $1,829 now. We expect to receive a further $5,171 in October, and will submit another ordinance at that time,” the memo reads.

The council also passed Resolution 24-103, sponsored by Berry and council member Donna Aderhold, urging the State of Alaska to maintain funding for the PLA grants and the Statewide Library Electronic Doorway, or SLED, at FY2024 levels.

The resolution notes the reduction in PLA grant funding and its impacts to public libraries, as well as the reduction in funding to SLED from $500,000 to $369,514 in FY2025.

“SLED has provided Alaskans with access to online resources and databases for learning that would otherwise be unaffordable to their local libraries,” the memo states. “Loss of SLED funding means that all public libraries in the state will have to eliminate significant online resources available to Alaska residents.”

Additionally, the council approved Memorandum CC-24-193 to allow city staff to submit the resolution to the Alaska Municipal League for consideration at their annual business meeting in December.

“State funding for libraries, particularly those in small municipalities and unorganized communities, is critical to the continued functioning of the important services libraries provide to residents and visitors,” the memo states. “Having AML help municipalities advocate for library funding will keep this issue at the forefront for (DEED) and state legislature.”

Andy Haas, who sits on the Library Advisory Board, thanked the council for weighing in on the funding issues and showing their support for public libraries by passing the resolutions urging full state funding.

Find these materials on the city council website at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-321.

Library directors from the Cooper Landing, Kenai and Soldotna libraries attended the Sept. 17 KPB Assembly meeting. Virginia Morgan, volunteer director at the Cooper Landing Community Library, gave a presentation on the PLA grant reduction to the assembly.

“That ($7,000) amount has been stable for decades,” Morgan said. “Our library in Cooper Landing counts on it to fund almost half of our annual budget. … On the Kenai Peninsula, $51,710 was the loss in revenue with this reduction.”

Micciche thanked Morgan and other librarians who “sounded the alarm early on” on the reduced grant funding.

“Thank you for getting this moving early. Sometimes if things linger long enough, they’re tougher to correct,” he said. “I have nothing but faith in (DEED) Commissioner Bishop for what she’s told me will happen in the replacement of those funds.”

Homer library works to adapt

Annual funding allocated by the PLA grant serves as a vital source for many local libraries, but the negative effects when that funding is cut are felt even more sharply by the smaller community libraries that rely on the grant for operational expenses.

“(The Homer Public Library) is taxpayer-supported, which gives us the wherewithal to survive a single year of significant funding cuts,” Berry wrote in an impact statement to the Alaska Library Association Advocacy Committee. “The small libraries around us are not so fortunate.”

Berry wrote that he’s been working with volunteer staff at the Ninilchik, Anchor Point and Seldovia libraries “to find supplemental funding to see them through the year.”

“All three are considering reductions to service hours, and it goes without saying that their materials budgets have been wiped out,” he wrote.

The Homer Public Library expects to carry on largely as they have been, as PLA funds are generally used to supplement their materials budget. According to Berry, in a typical year HPL spends about one-third of their allocated PLA funding on picture books and juvenile fiction, with the remainder mainly going to adult nonfiction.

In the face of the loss of over $5,000 in expected funding, HPL will cut back on purchasing new releases, slow down replacement of damaged materials, and shift their focus on collection development by putting updates to their medical collection and foreign-language section on hold and trending more toward broader, high-demand titles, Berry wrote in an Aug. 28 email to Homer News.

“While Homer Public Library will carry on despite the cuts to the PLA grants, many of the smaller, volunteer-operated libraries may not,” he wrote.

Big impacts for small communities

For the Anchor Point Public Library, which typically uses PLA grant funding for general operating costs and materials acquisitions, the current $1,829 grant amount may cover just about one month’s expenses. Beyond that, the grant reduction will impact the library’s ability to keep their doors open and serve the community.

“We have a lot of people in our community here in Anchor Point that don’t have access — they can’t go and buy books, and they can’t buy a computer, and they have no way to get WiFi. We’re it — we’re the only place that any of that can happen for them,” said library director and board member Deanna Thomas. “It’s important, for our small community, for our library to be here for these people. We can’t do this if we can’t keep the doors open.”

The Ninilchik Community Library largely relies on community donations, raffles and fundraisers, in addition to the PLA grant, to fund its $30,000 annual budget. According to the library’s website, they have already reduced their operating hours in reaction to the reduced grant funding. According to an Aug. 20 Facebook post, the library also anticipates moving to a completely volunteer-run staff — cutting their paid part-time librarian position — and possibly reducing the services they currently provide to the Ninilchik community, at the least.

“As a small library … this hit will most likely cause us to close in the near future. We are already only available four days a week, we are starting three days a week. We will not be able to afford staying open in the winter months with the cost of plow services and heating the library,” an anonymous library staff member wrote in an impact statement provided to ALAAC.

The Seldovia Public Library does not currently anticipate reducing their hours or closing their doors, as their rent and utilities are covered by the City of Seldovia.

“That’s our saving grace right now,” said library board president Bobbi Sweatt. “All of us are trying to brainstorm to see where we could get other funding. In the meantime, we’re going to have about $1,800 for everything — it’s going to significantly decrease what we can put on the shelves. The impact it has on us is pretty huge.”

The Seldovia Public Library depends upon the PLA grant to fund approximately 85% of their budget, according to an impact statement provided by the library to ALAAC. Their only other income is derived from Pick.Click.Give. donations, the library’s annual Fourth of July book sale, and other small donations — all of which adds up to approximately $1,000 per year.

The library’s FY2025 budget was set with the expectation that the typical PLA grant amount of $7,000 would be paid out again this year. The Seldovia Library uses those funds to purchase new books and DVDs and pay for magazine subscriptions, internet service, furniture, equipment, and other material, software, supplies and services.

“We already operate on a shoestring budget and 100% of our labor is provided free by volunteers,” the impact statement says. “We will likely have to spend money out of our savings to pay for copy paper, software, internet and so on.”

The library’s “most vital” service to patrons, both local community members and visitors, is their free WiFi and their printer and copy machine — services which are now in jeopardy. In conjunction with not being able to purchase new materials for the library’s collection, they also anticipate that circulation and patron numbers will decrease.

“The Seldovia Public Library is an important hub in the community,” the impact statement reads. “This funding cut has not only been devastating and stressful to our all-volunteer staff, (but) our community has also expressed concern.”

Multiple libraries are seeking donations or organizing other fundraising efforts to mitigate the current funding loss. For more information on how to support local libraries, contact them directly or visit them online or on Facebook:

Anchor Point Public Library: 907-235-5692; www.anchorpointlibrary.com

Ninilchik Community Library: 907-567-3333; www.ninilchiklibrary.org

Seldovia Public Library: 907-234-7662; seldovialibrary.wordpress.com

Homer Public Library: 907-235-3180; www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/library