Can you join our team of volunteers to help secure our library's future? Where you can help:

• Reach out to your friends, neighbors, and network to ask them to support sustainable funding for our Boulder Public Library.
• Host a house party to help spread the word and raise funds for the election campaign.
• Become part of our communications team: develop messaging and outreach plans, spread the word through social media, be a point person for news outlets.
• Collect signatures on our ballot petition drive.
• Walk neighborhoods to encourage residents to support our library.
• Help to Get Out the Vote for the November 5th election!

Enter your info here to be added to our volunteer list for one or more roles. You can also email us at volunteer@boulderlibrarychampions.org with questions or other ideas for how you might help.

BECAUSE IT'S THE LIBRARY BOULDER DESERVES

Thank you to all of our supporters, especially the Boulder Library Foundation for its generous contribution to this campaign and for its role as champion and supporter of our library for over 45 years.

Join us to show your support for our library!

We are the Boulder Library Champions!

The Boulder Library Champions is a grassroots group of community volunteers who have come together in support of our Boulder Public Library and our community's vision for its future.

We are working to secure sustainable funding for our library.

Our Boulder Public Library is beloved for its excellent service, innovative offerings and commitment to the Boulder community. With over 1 million visitors in 2018, our Boulder Public Library's popularity continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

Unfortunately, funding and staff have not grown over the years with the demand for existing and new library services.

By creating a library district, our Boulder Public Library would be funded through a dedicated property tax rather than competing with other city departments. This would provide reliable, predictable funding and the ability to confidently plan for the future to create even better libraries for our community. Library districts are now the most common form of governance and funding for Colorado libraries.

View a fact sheet developed by our library at  Funding Our Library Future 

View a panel discussion about library districts Funding Our Library Future: Panel Discussion

Why we are advocating for the creation of a library district.

Analysis shows that while most households in Boulder have library cards, nearly 40,000 cardholders live outside the Boulder city limits. No other library system of Boulder’s size has a similar, disproportionate number of cardholders living outside the library’s boundaries.

Creating a library district offers the most equitable, reliable and accountable approach to funding by better matching the patron base and the funding base; an approach taken by every other library in Colorado similar to Boulder in size and patron base.

And, a single purpose district enhances taxpayer accountability because its leadership is focused solely on the library. The library’s community assets remain in service to the community, directly maintained and invested in by the district at the direction of the library board.

Boulder Library Champions' summary of library funding needs and why a district is the best solution, see Our Library's Funding Needs. 

Read the Boulder Daily Camera's endorsement: Create a district for Boulder Public Library

Forming a library district can help address looming shortfalls in the Boulder City budget.

The City budget is overstretched. Costs to deliver programs and services have been rising faster than revenue growth for more than 15 years. Every two years, a new Council is elected and new priorities are set, resulting in additional initiatives and new programs that add to the budget stress. The City now has a long list of unfunded needs, many in core programs - basic services and programs that citizens rely on and which are at the heart of Boulder’s quality of life.

Forming a library district would free up at least $9.7M/year in direct annual expenditures for our library (based on the 2019 budget). 

Get the Scoop on Boulder's Budget and

the Scoop on Sustainable Funding for Our Library

We are using this slide deck Shining a Light on Boulder's Budget in community conversations and presentations to community groups. Our next scheduled community conversation is

September 30, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Main Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave, in the Boulder Creek Room.

Please join us!

We need to elect Council members who understand our city budget needs and will work
to ensure sustainable funding for our library!

We are inviting you to join us.

The Boulder Library Champions are campaigning now to add this issue to the 2020 election ballot.

• Sign! Please visit our petition page to learn how you can show your support.
• Endorse! List your name on this website as a supporter of our efforts.
• Subscribe! Provide us your contact information to stay informed about our campaign.
• Volunteer! Be a part of the campaign to help us achieve sustainable funding for our library.

BECAUSE IT'S THE LIBRARY BOULDER DESERVES

Sign up here to stay informed about our efforts. We'll keep you up to date about how you can support sustainable funding for our libraries.