The very first event held in the North Adams Public Library's new meeting room was the Berkshire Legislative Breakfast on March 7, 2008. Staff and trustees from more than 21 public and school libraries were represented at the breakfast urging support for state budget line items 7000-9401 (Regional Systems) and 7000-9506 (networks like C/W MARS and funding for data bases). The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) Legislative Agenda is advocating significant funding in these lines to try to return them to the 2001 funding levels. The Regional Systems' budgets are 17% below where they were in FY2002.
Speakers included Director Robert Maier (MBLC), Regional Administrator John Ramsay, Sally Caldwell (Friends of WMRLS) and Tom Corbett, Assistant Director, C/W MARS. Dignitaries included John Barrett III, Mayor of North Adams, Senator Benjamin Downing, and Representatives Daniel Bosley, Denis Guyer, and Christopher Speranzo. The Master of Ceremonies was Joseph F. Truskowski, Jr., President of the North Adams Board of Trustees and Adams Cooperative Bank. The weather was glorious, the food was great, and the North Adams Public Library is a great place to visit.
~ Jan Resnick, Assistant Regional Administrator, WMRLS
No comments:
Post a Comment