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Vermont library leaders urge House panel to clear path for capital and program funding in S.232
Summary
Margaret Woodruff of the Vermont Library Association told the House Education Committee that S.232 would help address an estimated $260 million in deferred maintenance at Vermont libraries, ease barriers to Agency of Education grants for small libraries, and permit Department of Libraries-managed allocations to support summer and after-school programming.
Margaret Woodruff, director of the Charlotte Library and chair of the Vermont Library Association(VLA) government relations and advocacy committee, told the House Education Committee on April 9 that S.232 would "open the door" to funding and operational support for libraries across the state. "The Vermont Library Association is a nonprofit organization whose members come from 202 public and academic libraries in Vermont," she said, outlining how libraries operate without centralized state funding and often problem-solve in isolation.
Woodruff emphasized libraries'expanded civic role and the practical needs S.232 would address. "Libraries stopped being quiet reading rooms many decades ago," she said, describing libraries as "community spaces that welcome people of all ages and interests to engage, explore, communicate, and, of course, read." She urged…
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