Oxford Lane Library will soon receive the funding from the passing of its $750,000 continually operating tax levy renewal last November. The previous city-level tax will indefinitely continue, which sits at $15.33 per $100,000 in property value, and the library will not have to cut back on any of its services.
Sarah Gifford, an adult reference librarian at Oxford Lane Library, said she is looking forward to the ability to continue the same services at the library. Gifford said she loves how wonderful Oxford’s public library is.
“Especially for such a smaller community, this is a fantastic resource that we have here,” Gifford said.
The library is currently operating on the levy passed in 2015, which is set to expire early this year, said Carrie Mancuso, Lane Library’s Public Relations Manager. The library has had three levies on the ballot – one original and two renewals – and Mancuso has worked on all of them.
Mancuso said she’s had a positive experience working on these levies and it’s clear how appreciated the library is by Oxford residents. She said the experience is a mix of pride in what the library has to offer and hope that the community recognizes the importance of the establishment.
“There’s always a sense of comfort and hope in knowing that libraries are loved and that our library is really held in high esteem by our patrons,” Mancuso said. “It’s a positive experience knowing that you are asking a community to support something that you already know they love.”
Lane Library’s first levy was proposed in 2010 after years of decrease in state funding. Mancuso said the library wanted to balance a quality budget while also being able to offer the public what they deserved.
“We knew that we had to put in place a more steady revenue stream that we could count on moving forward because we were at the mercy of the state funding, which was kind of volatile,” Mancuso said.
Mancuso said it was scary to ask for a levy the first time because it’s hard to tell how the voters will feel. Mancuso said it felt rewarding when it passed.
“At that point, we really knew that we truly had the support of our citizens that we serve and that the public library is a really important institution to our voters,” Mancuso said.
After it passed, the library returned to its previous operations. Mancuso said they were able to go back to their full hours, bring back certain services and their material budget back to where it was before.
Mancuso said no plans for anything new have been discussed, but she doesn’t want patrons to think the library will stay the same.
“Libraries are always changing with the needs of the community and the time,” Mancuso said. “As technology changes, we really look at how we need to change with it in order to provide what people are looking for.”
One aspect the library will begin to focus on is how readers are taking in their materials. Mancuso said the library has seen an increase in ebooks and audiobooks, so they will likely begin to focus some of their budget on that.
Gifford said she was hopeful and optimistic that the levy would pass in November.
“We have such a strong support system here in Oxford, specifically for our library system,” Gifford said. “We were very thankful and very excited that it passed.”
The library will not have to go back on the ballot, as long as an increase in funding isn’t needed, said Mancuso.
