[MD-AtLarge] Third Annapolis Issue

[nfbmd]

To:              Members of the Maryland General Assembly
From:         Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
Contact:     Sharon Maneki, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
9013 Nelson Way
Columbia, MD 21045
Phone: 410-715-9596
Email: nfbmd at earthlink.net
 
Subject:     Moving the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped (LBPH) out of the Maryland State Department of Education
Date:          January 19, 2017
 
THE PROBLEM
LBPH is part of the Division of Library Development and Services (DLDS),
which is organized within the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).
As a part of MSDE, LBPH cannot operate properly because it occupies an
insignificant position within this large bureaucracy. Because of the low
priorities that MSDE assigns to LBPH, LBPH is unable to support blind
children in their development of literacy skills. LBPH is unable to properly
serve blind adults in their need to obtain information about careers and
other aspects of community life. Furthermore, LBPH is unable to adequately
lend a helping hand to blind seniors who are losing vision and have few
opportunities to continue their life-long habits of reading. 
PROPOSED ACTION
The Maryland General Assembly should enact legislation to create a new
entity in the executive branch of state government, the Maryland State
Library, which will be responsible for LBPH and other functions currently
performed by DLDS.
BACKGROUND
LBPH, located at 415 Park Avenue in downtown Baltimore, serves patrons
across the state of Maryland who are "legally blind and cannot see well or
focus long enough to read standard print; who are physically disabled in
that they have difficultly handling a book or turning pages; or who are
reading disabled due to an organic dysfunction such as dyslexia."
Approximately 68% of the library's patrons are senior citizens; 20% are
between the ages of 21 and 60; and 12% are students. These patrons depend on
LBPH because other public libraries lack the materials and expertise to
serve this group of citizens.
 
LBPH is part of the network of state libraries operated by the National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of
Congress. As a network library, LBPH distributes books and magazines in
Braille and audio formats to patrons in Maryland. Because of this
federal-state partnership, LBPH does not pay for Braille books or magazines.
However, NLS provides LBPH with only one copy of each audio book it
produces. As a network member, LBPH must then duplicate additional copies at
its own expense to distribute to patrons. LBPH and the state of Maryland is
responsible for maintaining its building, paying its staff, and providing
for other operational needs such as computers, phones, and office equipment.
The state of Maryland has never adequately fulfilled its role in this
federal-state partnership. 
 
In 2016, the Maryland Advisory Council on Libraries issued recommendations
to transition DLDS to an independent state agency in the executive branch of
Maryland state government. According to these recommendations, DLDS would
become the Maryland State Library. The Maryland State Library is to be
governed by the Maryland State Library Board. If the Maryland General
Assembly follows these recommendations and creates this new state agency,
the Maryland State Library will be responsible for the operation of LBPH.
The entire library community supports this change in structure.
 
LBPH has been administratively part of the DLDS in MSDE for the forty-eight
years of its existence.  Throughout its history, LBPH has suffered under
this administrative structure because it has never been able to manage its
own resources.  For the first twenty years, LBPH was housed in a substandard
rented building that had a leaky roof and heating problems. These conditions
damaged books and other materials.  This situation was only remedied because
of the advocacy efforts of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland,
not because of leadership from MSDE.  LBPH moved to its own facility and
current location in 1992.  While having its own facility helped matters,
problems with poor library services continued because of the administrative
structure.
 
The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, which is
part of the American Library Association, has established national standards
for all network libraries in the Library of Congress Books for the Blind
program. These standards outline such items as the number of staff these
libraries should have based on the target population, the type of staff
these libraries should hire, the hours of operation, etc.  LBPH has never
been able to meet the national library standards created for this type of
library. LBPH experienced years of underfunding and staff shortages because
MSDE was more interested in funding its other programs. LBPH did not even
have its own line item in the DLDS budget until the Maryland General
Assembly took action in 2014.
Unfortunately, having its own line item in the budget since fiscal year 2016
has not led to the expected improvement in services provided by LBPH.
Bureaucratic delays within MSDE have caused delays in hiring needed staff,
as well as delays in procuring essential equipment such as a new nonvisually
accessible telephone system.  MSDE officials frequently require redundant
justifications and repeatedly demand answers to irrelevant questions.
Locating LBPH in a structure with fewer layers of bureaucracy will enable it
to use its funding with greater dispatch in order to improve services for
the blind and physically handicapped citizens that it serves.
 
ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION
 
*       Creating the Maryland State Library will lead to greater efficiency.
LBPH has a history of missed opportunities.  Because of inadequate funding,
LBPH has limited access to state of the art computers and software to
fulfill its mission. The most glaring example of missed opportunity is the
failure to adequately support the Accessible Textbook Coordination program
for students and faculty in higher education. In 2007, the Maryland General
Assembly requested that LBPH serve as the coordinator for the distribution
of accessible textbooks so that blind and other reading disabled students in
college can obtain textbooks on time and in a format they can use. This
approach would not only benefit individual students, but also would
eliminate duplication of effort by individual colleges throughout the state.
Such efficiencies have never been realized because the State of Maryland has
never adequately funded this program through LBPH. Once again, MSDE failed
to provide needed leadership.  
 
*       Reorganizing LBPH into the Maryland State Library will not require
significant additional funding.
Experience demonstrates that reorganization does not require significant
additional funding, but does bring about a better quality of service to
constituents.  For example, on the federal level state libraries were housed
in the Office of Library Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.
During the 1990's, libraries were moved out of the U.S. Department of
Education and became part of the Institute of Museums and Libraries.  In a
study entitled Moving to Independence:  A Case History of the Institute of
Museums and Libraries (IMLS), the author, Dr. Trudi Hahn, Teaching Professor
and Director of Academic Outreach at the iSchool, College of Information
Science and Technology, Drexel University, states that:
 
"since separating from USDE and aligning with IMLS, the nation's libraries
have made tremendous progress both programmatically and financially.  In
real dollars, their budget has not expanded a great deal, but they have much
greater control over their budget, a greater opportunity to educate elected
officials, the ability to work with professional associations, greater
visibility for themselves and for the library and museum community."  
 
The libraries in Maryland in general, and LBPH in particular, will benefit
from reorganization just as the state libraries in IMLS did.  The State of
Maryland should continue to fund LBPH, according to the funding formula that
the General Assembly established in 2014.  
 
*       Providing a new structure will enable LBPH to become a 21st-century
library.  
Due to advances in technology, libraries are becoming more dependent on
computer hardware and software.  This is equally true for specialized
libraries such as LBPH. Having a streamlined structure will enable LBPH to
purchase specialized duplication equipment to make copies of digital audio
books.  LBPH will also be able to hire a staff that has greater technical
abilities. LBPH must have the flexibility to take advantage of new
technologies to advance its service delivery system. 
 
Every segment of LBPH's customer base will continue to grow in the 21st
century. Each year approximately 75,000 Americans become blind. Due to the
war on terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been and
will continue to be an increase in the number of veterans who are blind and
have other reading disabilities. Since people are living longer, more
seniors are facing the loss of vision due to macular degeneration and other
diseases. LBPH must also serve a diverse population of working-aged adults.
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults. More and more
Americans join the ranks of people with diabetes each year. Advances in
medical technology have made the survival of more disabled children
possible, which is another reason for expansion in the number of LBPH
patrons. In order to plan for this patron expansion, LBPH must have a stable
source of funding. LBPH also needs sufficient staff to conduct outreach
programs to find the people who need its services. Creating a new state
library structure is the only way to ensure that LBPH truly becomes a
21st-century library. 
 
CONCLUSION
 
Blind and physically-handicapped patrons receive woefully inadequate
services from LBPH. Since its establishment, LBPH has been plagued with
inadequate funding and staff shortages.  MSDE bureaucracy threatens the
existence and stifles the growth of LBPH.  The State of Maryland should not
continue to deprive LBPH patrons of essential library services.  It is time
to loosen the stranglehold that MSDE exerts on Maryland's Libraries by
creating the Maryland State Library.  
 
 
Sharon Maneki, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
410-715-9596
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.
 
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