Zussy

Proposal may save State Library

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 1, 2002

OLYMPIA -- The State Library, facing extinction in the state budget crunch, might be spared under a proposal gaining support in the Legislature.

The new plan, which is backed by the State Library Commission, library staff and lawmakers of both parties, would transfer part of the agency to the Secretary of State's Office and other parts to the state archives office.

Commission Chairwoman Anne Haley of Yakima Valley said the proposal would include abolishing her board.

"I think there's strong support for transferring most of the functions of the library to the Secretary of State and to the archives," said Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.

HB 2926

A hearing on Proposed Substitute House Bill 2926 drew favorable comment Wednesday before Sommers' committee. The proposal would eliminate five full-time jobs and save about $450,000, according to Haley and State Librarian Nancy Zussy, both of whom strongly endorse the alternative.

However, such a move hits a financial sticking point because it might not save enough money, Sommers said.

Gov. Gary Locke's proposal to close the library assumed savings of $5.8 million, so anything less than that adds to the state's $1.6 billion budget shortfall, Sommers said.

Moving branches

Some functions of the library, which receives $3 million in federal funding each year to assist local libraries, would be headquartered in Secretary of State Sam Reed's office.

Zussy would be named chief executive officer, while the collections would go into the archives branch also managed by Reed's agency.

The idea for transferring the library functions and abolishing the commission that oversees it came from Haley and Rep. Jim Clements, R-Selah, who sponsored the bill.

Haley said the concept is supported by all members of the commission.

Thelma Kruse, director of the Timberland Regional Library, which is based in Olympia, also endorses the bill.

Closure of the State Library functions would put a load on her local libraries, which already face budget cuts, Kruse said.

Reed said he has never "coveted" the library, but would gladly accept it into his administration if needed. The book collections would be a "natural fit" for his archives operation, he said.

But Reed warned that the proposal as it stands won't save the state much money because whoever takes over management of book collections might have to acquire new space.

Finding space

Putting the archives and library collections together could solve a space problem.

The archives site on Capitol Way already has been discussed by the Department of General Administration as a potential long-term location for the library.

The library has been temporarily relocated out of the Joel M. Pritchard State Library Building to rented space in Tumwater while the Legislative Building is renovated.

The state Senate will have floor sessions in Pritchard during 2003-04.

Reed said the archives site might make sense.

Reed has talked with other secretary of state offices in five other states that have combined the functions, including Florida, Illinois and Rhode Island.

"Each of them has said it has worked out very well for the library and the secretary of state's office," Reed said.

The question of cutting the library functions further than what the bills propose may ultimately rest with the governor, who favored deeper cuts in the first place, Sommers said.

Locke's Office of Financial Management has no problem with the House proposal.

"Obviously we'd like to save $5 million," agency spokesman Hal Spencer said. "If that's the best we can do, that's the best we can do. We can only do what the Legislature wants to do."

South Sound Reps. Gary Alexander, R-Thurston County, and Sandra Romero, D-Olympia, said they want to save the library.

Alexander said the new proposal has merit, but Romero said it doesn't save enough money.

"I was really hoping we'd have something that would fly. We're not quite there yet. But I'm not giving up," Romero said.

"I can't imagine not having a state library."

Brad Shannon, political editor for The Olympian, can be reached at 360-753-1688 and at beshanno@olympia.gannett.com.

On the Web:

- Washington State Library

- Secretary of State

- Gov. Gary Locke

- Washington State Legislature

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