Thursday, September 24, 2009

Where does the Library Funding come from????

The economic times are hitting everyone hard, even your local public library. Computer use at the library has doubled in the past year, which is a good thing. HOWEVER, it has doubled due to the increasing numbers of people looking for jobs. The library has free high speed internet for your use. If you have a laptop, you can use the free Wi-Fi service. The Wi-Fi is available daily until 11:00 pm so that even if the library is closed, please feel free to sit at a picnic table or in your car and jump on the internet.

People often ask how the Liberty Hill Public Library is funded, where our money comes from. The paper seems to be a good place to share this information with our rapidly growing community. About seven years ago a group of citizens proposed a bond issue to create a library district, which follows the Liberty Hill ISD boundaries. The proposal was for ¼ percent sales tax, which passed. What this means is that ¼ of a percent of all SALES taxes collected within the Library District boundaries (which follow the ISD boundaries) is returned to the Liberty Hill Public Library. This is where our operating funds come from. We are not funded through property taxes, nor are we a part of the Liberty Hill city or Williamson county. We are a completely independent entity in that sense.

My reason for telling you this? To promote Liberty Hill! Each time you shop locally, rather than running to Georgetown or Cedar Park, you are supporting your library. As you can guess, sales are down recently and as a result, our income has suffered. The library needs your help. Keeping sales within Liberty Hill will help. Current book donations will help. Check out our website (www.lhpl.org) and make a donation through PayPal. We are planning a larger library for the future, but keeping our current library operating is our current focus.

If you haven’t been to the library, pull into Foundation Park and head for the building at the back. We’d love to meet you and introduce you to all our DVDs and current book releases, just waiting to go home with you. Do you commute to work? Our audio book collection has been touted as “one of the best around,” pick up something to listen to on your commute.

Support your Liberty Hill Public Library. We are here to support you in any way we can.