Budget battle looms in e-library's future

State lawmakers want more students to have greater access to online databases, journals, magazines and other resources obtained through the Florida Electronic Library.

That's why House and Senate education committees are instructing school and public libraries to coordinate more closely with the state's online gateway.

"What we're trying to do is create as much access as we can, from the K-12 system through the university system," said Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach, chairwoman of the Senate's higher education budget committee.

That may prove difficult in the long-term, however, because two other budget committees are proposing the elimination of state aid to libraries. Dropping the assistance would disqualify Florida from receiving federal grant dollars on which the electronic library depends.

About $3 million of an annual $9 million library grant Florida receives from the federal government covers the subscriptions and other costs of the electronic library, which is free to all Florida residents at flelibrary.org.

The electronic library also provides access to several collections of historical documents from archives across the state. An "Ask a Librarian" instant chat feature connects residents to librarians across the state.

"People regularly make jokes about the lack of reliability of information on the Web," said Charlie Parker, director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, a 12-county organization. "This is where you go for accurate information from the sources you trust, because they have been formally published."

Eliminating state aid to libraries would not immediately wipe out the electronic library's federal funding, but it would jeopardize the program's future.

Federal officials award the grant based on a state's past track record of supporting libraries. Cutting the minimum required state support for libraries in 2010-2011, about $21 million, would cost Florida its federal library grant in fiscal year 2013-2014.

That would mean shutting down the electronic library for a year, said Jennifer Krell Davis, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who oversees state libraries.

Restoring state library funding in 2011-2012 could bring back federal dollars for the electronic library in 2014-2015, she said. However, even if the state increases future allocations to libraries, the federal aid for 2013-2014 cannot be restored.

"Once the money is lost, it's lost," she said.

With next year's state deficit projected to reach $5 billion, Davis said the Secretary of State's office is not counting on the library aid being restored if it is eliminated.

Statewide, the shared electronic library saves the state's libraries about $112 million on subscriptions, according to the Secretary of State's office.

"It's almost the epitome of an efficient government program," Davis said.

Deborah Robinson, director of libraries for St. Petersburg College, said the electronic library provides access to a vital set of databases that "we consider essential resources for our students and population. Without the Florida Electronic Library, we'd have to cut other things to pay for those on our own."

The Legislature's delegation of budgetary authority to various committees created its seemingly contradictory approach to the funding of the electronic library. The House and Senate committees on transportation and economic development, and not those on education, are responsible for allocating library dollars.

Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who oversees the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, has said he hopes to find a way to save the library funding before the budget passes. However, he chose to axe the money to preserve state support for child care for low-income working families.

All budget committees must shrink spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to avoid a deficit of up to $3.2 billion. Budget deliberations continue this week.

Neither Lynn nor Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, head of the House's higher education budget committee, were aware of the potential elimination of funding for the online library, they said.