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State librarian says Connecticut History Museum partnership declined for timing reasons despite ARPA funds for accessibility
Summary
The Connecticut State Library told the Appropriations panel it turned down an external offer to use ARPA money to make museum exhibits accessible to people who are blind or have low vision because the museum is undergoing staff and modernization work and lacks capacity to implement the pilot now.
Deborah Shonder, Connecticut’s state librarian, told the Appropriations subcommittee the State Library declined an outside offer to use ARPA funding to adapt museum exhibits for people who are blind or have low vision because the timing conflicted with a major modernization effort at the Museum of Connecticut History.
Shonder said the museum is “currently undergoing significant modernization and change after a significant over a changeover in our staff,” and that staff capacity constraints made it impractical to take on the external pilot immediately. She added that the state library is participating in a separate pilot with Perkins Access and the Connecticut Library for Accessible Books that aims to develop similar accessibility materials.
Lawmakers pressed the library to reconsider. Senator Cathy Austin said the state had previously allocated ARPA funds to support accessibility work through 2026 and urged the agency to reverse the decision and partner with the outside provider. Austin told the librarian that approximately 10,000 Connecticut residents are blind or have sight‑related conditions and said the state should prioritize accessible museum programming.
Shonder said the decision to decline the external offer was limited to timing: staff were focused on modernization and basic museum upkeep and could not meet the preparation and research workload the pilot required before the ARPA spending deadline. She said the library hopes to partner on future projects once the museum’s staffing and modernization schedule permit.
The librarian told the panel she would revisit the offer and that the library had engaged counsel and other partners; committee members asked the agency to provide follow‑up information about next steps and potential alternative timetables for ARPA‑funded accessibility work.
