Library GO Bond B on November Ballot
Date: September 16, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The NMSU Library announces that General Obligation Bond B, which includes a total of $7 million in funding for publicly funded academic, public, school and tribal libraries in New Mexico, will be on the ballot on November 2.
$2 million dollars in funding is requested for each of three groups: academic libraries, school libraries and public libraries. $1 million is requested for tribal libraries.
NMSU Library Dean Elizabeth A. Titus said that GO Bond B is an opportunity for library users to express their appreciation and support for the services provided by libraries of all types in New Mexico.
According to The Bowker Annual, the average cost of a book to support college student learning has risen 59%, going from $40.52 in 1989 to $64.52 in 2008.
GO Bond B, if passed, will enable publicly funded libraries to support students and faculty by updating book and journal collections and subscribing to electronic databases.
Libraries at NMSU-Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Grants and Doña Ana Community College will all benefit from this bond if it is approved. GO Bonds provide up to 25% of New Mexico academic library materials.
The NMSU Library is expected to receive approximately $313,223 and the Doña Ana Community College Library would receive $108,490. The NMSU-Alamogordo library would receive approximately $35,475, the NMSU-Carlsbad library would receive $20,736 and the NMSU-Grants Library would receive $14,962.
If successful, the $7 million bond issue would cost taxpayers 45 cents per $100,000 of their assessed property value.
Another general obligation bond on the ballot, GO Bond D, will provide eighteen million dollars to plan, design, construct, conduct necessary demolition, renovate, furnish, expand and equip NMSU’s Hershel Zohn Theater and Branson Library to construct the Domenici Institute for Public Policy, which will house the NMSU Library’s Senator Pete Domenici Archives.
The New Mexico State University Library, the New Mexico Library Association and libraries throughout the state encourage citizens to vote in this important election. Absentee voting begins October 5, early voting begins October 16 and the General Election is on November 2.
For more information, visit the statewide Bonds for Libraries Facebook page at http://bondsforlibraries.nmla.org/links-facebook/.
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