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<P align=justify>To: Members of the Maryland General Assembly</P></B>
<P align=justify></P></DIR></DIR><B>
<P align=justify>From: Members of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland</P></B>
<P align=justify></P><B>
<P align=justify>Contact: Sharon Maneki, Chairman</P>
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<P align=justify>Legislative and Advocacy Committee</P></DIR></DIR>
<P align=justify>9013 Nelson Way</P>
<P align=justify>Columbia, MD 21045</P>
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<P>Phone: 410-715-9596</P>
<P>Email: nfbmd@earthlink.net</P></B><B>
<P>Subject: Ensuring consistent funding for the Maryland Library for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped (LBPH)</P></B></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR><B>
<P>Date: January 16, 2014</P>
<P>________________________________________________________________________</P></B><B>
<P>THE PROBLEM</P></B>
<P>Maryland has an extensive public library system that includes the local
libraries, regional libraries, and the Maryland State Library Resource Center
(MSLRC). These libraries are funded in part through a formula that is applied to
statewide tax dollars. Unfortunately, LBPH is not included in Maryland’s public
library system. Instead, LBPH is included in the Division of Library Development
Services, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). Under this arrangement,
without benefit of a formula, LBPH cannot project its future appropriations
based on current economic forecasts. Without a specific line-item in the state
budget, LBPH is too dependent on the funds it gets from MSDE after MSDE receives
its annual appropriation. As a very low-percentage of MSDE’s total budget, LBPH
is too often the target of severe reductions from MSDE. In FY2013 LBPH received
only $86,000 from MSDE, while serving a population of over 8,500 borrowers.
Because of these circumstances services are diminishing, staff is leaving, and
the future of LBPH is in jeopardy.</P><B>
<P>PROPOSED ACTION</P></B>
<P>The Maryland General Assembly should enact legislation to include LBPH in the
formula that is used to fund the public libraries in Maryland. Since LBPH serves
as the state library resource center for blind and physically handicapped
citizens, its funding should be based as a percentage of the funding formula for
the Maryland State Library Resource Center. Based on MSLRC’s current
appropriation of almost $10 million, the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland recommends that LBPH’s formula should be set at 25% of the MSLRC’s
appropriation. Including LBPH in the formula will provide consistency to enable
planning for programs and services.</P><B>
<P>BACKGROUND</P></B>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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 is responsible for maintaining its building, paying
its staff members, and providing for other operational needs such as computers,
phones, and office equipment. LBPH does not have a separate and distinct budget.
State dollars are first appropriated to the Division of Library Development and
Services (DLDS), which in turn doles out funds to LBPH. As a result, Maryland
does a very poor job of upholding its end of this federal-state partnership.</P>
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<P>SPECIFIC CONCERNS</B>:</P>
<P>LBPH is not a priority for the MSDE and DLDS.</P>
<P>The DLDS, and consequently LBPH, has been consistently underfunded for the
past twelve years. Although this was a difficult economic period that required
reductions in state government spending, funding for the MSDE actually
increased. Yet, LBPH’s appropriations decreased steadily so that in FY 2013, it
received only $85,824 of state funding. To compensate for this shortfall, DLDS
assigned $1,560,868 of federal funds to LBPH to cover its operating costs. This
highly questionable move aroused the ire of the public libraries since these
federal dollars were intended as seed money to all libraries for new projects,
and not to be used as operational funding. With future decreases in federal
funding almost certain, Maryland’s strategy of funding LBPH by "robbing Peter to
pay Paul" cannot be sustained. Will LBPH be forced to close its
doors?</P></DIR></DIR>
<P></P>
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<P>LBPH does not meet national library standards.</P>
<P>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.
LBPH fails to meet these standards because of inadequate funding by state
government. The most glaring example is the failure to meet recommended staff
requirements for comparable libraries. The standard is 20 full-time employees.
Maryland only has 14 employees. To compensate for staff shortages, LBPH uses
volunteers. This strategy is becoming more ineffective as the work at LBPH
becomes more technical, and volunteers don’t have the necessary skills. </P>
<P>Another consequence of LBPH’s understaffing is the decline in the number of
readers it serves. Without the necessary staff to conduct consumer outreach,
fewer people are being served because they do not know about LBPH. In FY 2010,
LBPH served 11,262 patrons. As of September 30, 2012, LBPH served only 8,594
patrons. This is especially unfortunate because the size of the blind and
physically disabled population is increasing.</P>
<P>LBPH must serve an expanding population.</P>
<P>Every segment of LBPH’s customer base will continue to grow during the next
decade. Due to 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. Every year approximately 75,000 Americans become
blind. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults. More and more
Americans join the ranks of diabetics each year. LBPH must also serve a diverse
population of working aged adults. Advances in medical technology have made the
survival of more disabled children possible. In order to plan for this patron
expansion, LBPH must have a stable source of funding. LBPH needs sufficient
staff to conduct outreach programs to find the people who need its
services.</P><B></B>
<P>LBPH has a history of missed opportunities.</P>
<P>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.</P></DIR></DIR><B>
<P>CONCLUSION</P></B>
<P>Services at the LBPH are declining because state funding has been reduced
over the last twelve years. LBPH services are vital to the blind and physically
handicapped citizens of Maryland because it is our major source for obtaining
reading materials. It is the only library in Maryland that does not have a
specific budget. The Maryland General Assembly should solve this problem by
including LBPH in the funding formula for all public libraries. Blind and
physically handicapped citizens are at a great disadvantage because they have
limited access to information. Funding policies of Maryland are exacerbating
this problem. It is time to give the Maryland Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped the same funding mechanism that is enjoyed by the other
public libraries.</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>