Andy Sayler

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published HALO Splash 2020-04-22 20:54:44 -0600

Help a Library Worker Out

Due to COVID-19, Boulder's beloved libraries are closed and many of our dedicated library staff are out of work.

In conjunction with the Boulder Library Foundation, we've started a fund to raise money to support library staff during this time of crises.

If you can, please support our library workers by donating to Help a Library Worker Out.

Thanks you for your support during this challenging time.

published In the News 2020-02-12 20:16:13 -0700

In the News

A number of news outlets have covered our library's funding needs and efforts to form the Boulder Public Library District. Know of one we're missing? Contact us!

published Supporters Directory 2019-03-24 13:19:48 -0600

Supporters Directory

wants to volunteer 2019-03-17 20:57:47 -0600

Become a volunteer

Will you join our team of volunteers and help secure our community 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.

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

Become a volunteer
endorsed 2019-03-17 20:44:20 -0600

Our Supporters

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!

Endorse
published Why 2019-03-12 18:08:39 -0600

Why support a Library District?

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 to meet 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 every single year. This would provide reliable, predictable funding and the ability to confidently plan for the future to create even better library programs and services 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 

Why we are advocating for creation of the Boulder Public 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.

With a library district, we can better match the patron base to the funding base, offering the most equitable, reliable and accountable approach to funding.  Every other library in Colorado similar to Boulder in size and patron base is now a library district.

A single purpose library 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 of Trustees. The Trustees would be appointed by City Council and the County Commissioners, providing a degree of ongoing control over library decision making by our elected officials. 

The Boulder Daily Camera's editorial board explains why a library district makes sense for Boulder in its endorsement: Create a district for Boulder Public Library

View a panel discussion about Fort Collins' experience with its library district, and the experience of other Colorado library districts at Funding Our Library Future: Panel Discussion

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

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 $7.5M/year in General Fund revenues that can be used for other priority needs - like fire/emergency response, transportation, housing and arts. If the library district contracts with the city for administrative services, the city would receive up to $3.4M/year in additional revenue.

Get the Scoop on Boulder's Budget and

the Scoop on Sustainable Funding for Our Library

BECAUSE IT'S THE LIBRARY BOULDER DESERVES

City Council is now considering whether to form a library district, with a public hearing scheduled for March 17. Please tell Council that we want them to form a library district so we can vote on funding this fall!

 

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

 

donated 2020-01-24 17:42:46 -0700

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signed up on Subscribe 2019-02-18 12:14:26 -0700

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