April 14, 2015

TO:                 CLA MEMBERS/ SYSTEMS/ NETWORK CONTACTS

FROM:           Mike Dillon, CLA Lobbyist
                       Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyist 

RE:                 News From the Capitol

GOVERNOR BROWN ISSUES FORMAL PROCLAMATION DECLARING “CALIFORNIA LIBRARY WEEK” 

Today Governor Jerry Brown issued a formal proclamation, declaring April 13 through April 19 as “California Library Week.”  The proclamation, which can be found at this link to the Governor’s press page http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18922  notes that the “freedom to explore the vast body of human knowledge is one of the underpinnings of a truly free society.  For this reason, the public library has been a vital institution throughout the history of our republic.”  The Governor’s proclamation takes an historical look at libraries, but also celebrates the modern library which has “evolved and adapted to encompass new technologies and the changing needs of society.” 

You will recall that the Governor’s January 2014-15 Budget launched a program to connect public libraries to a major, high-speed, broadband “backbone” operated by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California or “CENIC.”  As the State Library’s recently released document entitled, “Lighting Up Libraries:  High-speed Broadband in California Public Libraries” indicates, there are 54 library jurisdictions, consisting of 389 individual libraries, that are in progress during Phase 1 of implementation to connect to the “backbone.”  These libraries are “poised to dramatically increase their bandwidth while cutting their monthly service charges by nearly two-thirds,” according to the State Library.  The Governor’s proclamation concludes:  “Increasingly citizens are turning to public libraries for access to those emerging technologies, and our professional librarians are responding as Californians always have, by innovating even where resources are limited.  I applaud all of our public libraries’ efforts to modernize their services, and my budget continues to provide support for library broadband access.”