St. Paul library board approves special‑fund authority as staff warns budget cut will widen waits for materials

The St. Paul Public Library Board on a 5-0 vote approved a resolution to increase special‑fund spending authority so the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library can transfer additional funds to library projects, and then heard a staff update on how proposed budget cuts would affect the library’s collections.

Director of Libraries Sarah Hartman told the board, “The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library have additional funds to transfer to the library before the end of the year in support of transforming libraries and youth and family services programs. This resolution increases our special funds of spending authority to allow us to encumber and spend those funds.”

Why it matters: library staff said a proposed reduction to the materials budget would shrink purchasing power, increase wait times and reduce the variety of titles and formats available to residents. Joshua Schafer, presenting an overview of the collections proposal, said, “There is a proposed reduction of $65,079 which represents about 6.3% of the library materials budget.” He said the Friends have agreed to pursue a special fundraising…