Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners urges $4 million boost to statewide programs

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Director Maureen Amiat told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means in Gloucester on March 10 that public libraries statewide are seeing rising demand for in‑person and online services and are confronting a spike in formal challenges to materials.

Amiat, the new MBLC director, asked lawmakers to raise multiple budget lines in the FY2026 request, highlighting three priority lines: the agency administrative line (7009-101), state aid to public libraries (7095-01) and the Massachusetts Center for the Book (7095-08). “Massachusetts public libraries are busy. In fact, more than 28,000,000 people visited the Commonwealth's libraries in person last year,” Amiat said. She added, “At 28,000,000, we're more popular than the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.”

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