The Queue: Library News for the Week Ending November 7, 2025
Among the week's headlines: Libraries win at the ballot box; the Chicago Public Library is facing a 50% cut to its collections budget; Ohio Republicans want to let local officials block library ballot measures; more fallout from Baker & Taylor's collapse; and Amanda Jones gets an apology.
Libraries Win at the Polls
This week saw one of the most heavily watched off-year elections in recent memory, with pundits viewing the results as a referendum on the first year of President Trump's second term. And, broadly speaking, blowout margins in the California redistricting ballot measure and in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races (along with sinking approval ratings) suggest that Americans are not on board with the administration's heavy-handed actions thus far.
But also on the ballot, as in every election year: library funding initiatives. And in a blog post this week on the EveryLibrary website, EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka notes that libraries had a pretty good night, winning 23 of 28 measures tracked by EveryLibrary, including 18 out of 20 measures in the state of Ohio. "Public libraries are receiving a clear mandate from voters this November: when presented with the choice, communities are willing to invest in their information infrastructure, programming, and future," Chrastka writes.
Mary Frances McGowan
Among the wins Chrastka highlights: Skagit County, Washington, where voters restored a property tax levy rate; in California, voters in Truckee approved a special tax mechanism "aimed at replacing the existing 50‑year‑old library facility with a modern regional library/emergency resource center," which, Chrastka notes, represents "a significant reinvestment in library infrastructure; and The Washington County Cooperative Library Consortium, which serves 16 libraries across Washington County, Oregon, secured a five-year levy renewal.
A Texas School Board Flips for Progressives
Rebecca Crosby
Over at Popular Information, Judd Legum rounds up some election results that didn't make national news but are well worth paying attention to, including a Texas school district that dumped its conservative majority. "In Texas’s Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD), which is the third largest in the state, progressive candidates won all three open board seats, giving them a 4-3 majority. Since 2023, the board has been controlled by a 6-1 conservative supermajority, which has enacted a range of far-right policies."
Ohio Republicans Want to Let Local Officials Block Future Library Ballot Measures
Karen Kasler
Let this one sink in: after jamming through a cut to library funding in this year's state budget, Statehouse News Bureau reports that a new Republican-backed bill would let local government officials block library levies from the ballot in their communities.
"Sponsoring Rep. Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) said House Bill 137 ends the mandate that a proposed library levy must be presented to voters, and gives local taxing authorities the power to review them," the article notes, with Lorenz arguing that such measures lead to "voter fatigue" and the "potential dilution of support for essential services." But Ohio Library Council executive director Michelle Francis told reporters that such a change would "significantly impact the services provided locally," adding that "voters deserve to decide library levies," which she noted "have a 92% passage rate over the last 15 years."
Wyoming Property Tax Reform Is Harming Libraries
Katie Klingsporn
WyoFile reports that a recently enacted change in its property tax policies is hurting public libraries. "Nobody, it seems, wants libraries closed. But, many say, this is among the impacts advocates warned lawmakers about last spring when they urged them to vote against a measure reducing residential property taxes," the report states. "With more tax-cutting proposals on the horizon, the budget crunches are only expected to worsen."
The Chicago Public Library Is Facing Significant Budget Cuts
Quinn Myers
Keep an eye on this one: Via Book Club Chicago, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, facing a $1 billion-plus budget shortfall, has released a 2026 budget proposal that calls for eliminating dozens of vacant library positions at the Chicago Public Library and slashing the collections budget in half, from $10 million to $5 million. At a press conference this week, librarians pushed back against the proposed cuts.
Alenka
"A 50% cut to our collections budget gives us only half the means to purchase new books, maintain our subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, to license audiobooks and digital media as well," said Carlynn Lampton, a librarian at the CPL's Brainerd branch said. "A collections budget of just $5 million for a city the size of Chicago is just $1.83 per resident—way below other major cities like LA, which spends more than 5 dollars per resident, and New York, almost 8 dollars per resident, and far less than neighbors like Evanston, which spends 12 dollars per resident to maintain its collections."
At a budget hearing this week, CPL commissioner Chris Brown suggested the cuts are necessary to retain "core services" across the city, Book Club Chicago reports. “This allows us to not close libraries, to not reduce hours of service and to avoid layoffs.”
In Minnesota, Patrons Weigh In on a Library Budget Battle
Mathew Holding Eagle III
Minnesota Public Radio reports that library supporters showed up in force this week, some dressed as their favorite literary characters, to protest the Beltrami County Board's proposed 40% cut in library funding. "If the Beltrami County Board’s cuts go through, the Bemidji library would have to go from being open six days a week to only four. And it would have to cut about four positions from its staff of nine," MPR reports.
In Texas, S.B. 13 is Bottlenecking Book Deliveries to School Libraries
Alyssa Fields
The Dallas Observer reports that S.B. 13, the controversial bill that effectively takes book selection decisions for public school libraries out of librarians' hands, is, as predicted, leading to massive delays in book deliveries. "The new bill, which took effect on September 1, has resulted in a lengthy list of books, many thousands long, pending approval in each school district."
More on the Fallout from Baker & Taylor's Collapse
Jackson Plank
We've been seeing more than a few of these stories: In Kentucky, local affiliate WKYT reports on the challenges one library is facing in getting books after the collapse of Baker & Taylor. "The Woodford County Library is facing significant challenges obtaining new books after the closure of its longtime vendor Baker and Taylor. Woodford County typically receives about 500 new books per month, but that number has fallen significantly due to the situation," the report notes.
Post-Baker & Taylor, Follett Content Pledges to Support Libraries, Not Just Supply Them
Britten Follett
In a LinkedIn post this week, Follet Content CEO Britten Follett makes her pitch to librarians post-Baker & Taylor. "For decades, B&T held roughly half of the public library book ordering market. Its exit leaves librarians scrambling to maintain services for their communities," she notes. "But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about trust. Public libraries are pillars of their communities, and they need partners who understand the stakes... Libraries need support, not just suppliers. And we’re ready to help."
HarperCollins Writes Off Baker & Taylor Losses
Jim Milliot |
It's not known exactly how much publishers stand to lose in the fallout from Baker & Taylor's demise, but Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly reports this week on HarperCollins' quarterly results, which, he notes, included a $13 million hit from the library supplier's closure.
This Canadian Library's Digital Lends Now Exceed Print, Raising Cost Concerns
The CBC reports that the Vancouver Public Library's loans of digital materials have now exceeded physical copies at the library. "The milestone is a win for accessibility, but could compound an ongoing problem for libraries, which is being able to pay for enough digital materials to meet demand and have significant collections of them compared to physical versions," the CBC states. "The latest data shows that digital circulation increased by 16% in 2024 compared to 2023, while physical circulation declined 3.5% for the same period. It’s been an issue across the country for many libraries, with the most public-facing consequence often being long waits for the digital copies of materials, while behind the scenes, it’s managing budgets."
Sign Up for This Webinar Series on Digital Content in Libraries
Michael Blackwell
This looks great: ReadersFirst this week announced a new free webinar series, The Digital Shelf Publishing & Library Forum, "a collaborative webinar series" from Lyrasis, ReadersFirst, and COSLA. "Our goal is to foster honest, practical conversations between libraries, publishers, and others in the book industry on complex topics like sustainable ebook pricing, AI in libraries, censorship and equitable access." The first event, an "Ebook Advocacy Action Round Up" is set for December 9 from 1-2:30 p.m. EST. You can register for the event here.
Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle Reflects on Legal Battles
Ashley Belanger
Over at Ars Technica, Ashley Belanger has a piece on the Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle, who uses the occasion of the Wayback Machine archiving its trillionth web page to reflect on the end of its recent legal battles with publishers and record labels. "To Kahle, the suits have been an immense setback to IA’s mission," Belanger writes. "But Kahle said the lawsuits against IA showed that 'massive multi-billion-dollar media conglomerates' have their own interests in controlling the flow of information."
How (and Why) Books Move Around Seattle
I really enjoyed this piece from the Seattle Times, which on its face seems like a wonky little piece about logistics but is really a celebration of the essential role libraries play in the reading enterprise. "There are plenty of theories about why people in the Greater Seattle region love to read. It could be the rainy weather that makes curling up with a book and a cup of tea such a cozy proposition," the article notes. "Tom Fay and Heidi Daniel think it goes deeper than that. Fay, Seattle Public Library’s chief librarian, and Daniel, executive director of the King County Library System, see a civically and socially engaged community that also values empowerment through learning."
What Could Go Wrong? After Court Ruling, Patrons Can Apparently Now Bring Guns into Florida Public Libraries
Alex DeLuca
As if it isn't a hard enough job, The Miami New Times reports that frontline librarians in Florida now face the prospect of gun-toting patrons. "On September 25, after an appeals court overturned Florida’s longtime ban on openly carrying firearms, the state began allowing open carry for the first time since 1987—meaning people can now legally tote their guns around in many public places across the state," the report notes. "As a result, many of Miami-Dade’s public libraries are now places where open carry is allowed."
ALA's New Executive Director, Daniel Montgomery, Is Officially on the Job
Sanhita SinhaRoy
At long last, The American Library Association has a full time, permanent executive director as Daniel Montgomery, whose appointment was announced over the summer, officially begins work next week. Montgomery brings a pretty solid CV to the gig, as he reminds us this week in an American Libraries column. "I’ve spent the past 15 years as president of the 103,000-member Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), the statewide union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. In that capacity, I have had to manage the daily operations of a large staff in the service of a diverse membership in every corner of the state and in many different jobs—including school librarians in both public and private institutions and academic librarians at colleges and universities," Montgomery writes.
The Students Who Overturned a Book Ban
Kelly Jensen
Over at Book Riot, Kelly Jensen speaks with some of the students who got several banned books reinstated to the annual Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. "The successful reinstatement of eight books originally banned from the competition isn’t about how the news spread beyond Georgia and led to the change of heart. It’s a story of how several high school students, all of whom are engaged with the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, worked to raise awareness of what was happening and ultimately, saw the books put back on the list," Jensen writes.
And Finally This Week...
After a more than three year legal battle, librarian and freedom to read advocate Amanda Jones has prevailed in one of her defamation lawsuits. And as she has done throughout, she displayed amazing grace in humanity in the process by settling her case against defendant Ryan Thames for one dollar in damages and a public apology (just as she has long said she would).
"People have asked me why I didn’t demand more. Why didn’t I make him pay for the years of pain and humiliation? The answer is simple: I don’t need anything else from him," Jones writes on her website. "Taking more from him would only hurt his family, and they didn’t do this. He did. I don’t believe in punishing others for one person’s mistakes."
Her case against the other defendant, Michael Lunsford, is still ongoing (as is a separate case against another attacker in New Jersey).
