Now, more than ever, your constituents are using library services.

Can you ensure that New Yorkers have what it takes to compete and succeed in todays economy?

What Does the LSTA Program Mean for New York?

The Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) program provides federal funds that help support local libraries throughout New York State. Through statewide services and grants from the New York State Library, the program encourages the blending of local, state, and federal resources to build and enhance library services for all New Yorkers.

Give Your Constituents’ Libraries Their Fair Share of Funding through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Program

Support increased funding for LSTA

• Library use in New York is up dramatically.
• New Yorkers benefited from $9 million in federal funding to libraries through the LSTA program in 2008.
• Family reading programs, employment information services, and access to high-quality electronic resources are among the vital library services these funds support.
• Although Federal funds represent less than one percent of library expenditures in New York State, their impact is great, as they leverage state and local funds and fuel innovation.

New York State Library
The State Education Department

The LSTA program helps provide these services to New York’s library users in their communities:

• Job and consumer health information.
• Access to timely, accurate online information that’s not available free on the Internet.
• Access from home, school, or office to full-text electronic information updated and maintained by librarians.
• Training in new computer technology.
• Literacy programs for adults and families.
• Job and consumer health information.
• Marketing, demographic, and other information crucial to small businesses.

The New York State Library distributes LSTA funds through grants and statewide services that support library programs to New York’s 7,000 libraries, 73 library systems, and the New York State Library:

• Programs that enable libraries to provide high-quality computer and Internet services to their communities.
• Projects that provide equitable access to technology by supporting cooperative efforts among New York’s 7,000 libraries, 73 library systems, and the New York State Library.
• Projects that provide special services that contribute to better access to information for all community residents, such as adult and family literacy programs.

LSTA funds help New Yorkers in densely populated urban centers, sparsely populated rural regions, and ethnically and economically diverse communities through these services:

• Counseling and job information for individuals moving from welfare to work.
• Programs to help at-risk preschoolers develop literacy skills.
• Promotion of literacy in family environments.
• Training for entrepreneurs in the skills needed to research and develop their plans for small businesses.

The LSTA program supports the Statewide Summer Reading Program that helps children develop a love for reading and maintain reading skills learned during the school year.

• Research shows that library summer reading programs raise student achievement and test scores and help prevent learning losses over the summer.
• More than any other public institution, including schools, public libraries contribute to the intellectual growth of children from diverse backgrounds during the summer. 
• More than 1.5 million children and teens from throughout New York State participated in the 2008 Statewide Summer Reading Program.

NOVELNY, the pilot project for New York's first Statewide Internet Library, helps bridge the digital divide and supports New York’s continued leadership in the information economy:

• Statewide access to online information: major collections of commercial databases such as ProQuest, Business & Company Resource Center, InfoTrac Custom Newspapers (full text of over 150 newspapers, including New York State newspapers such as The New York Times), and  age-appropriate electronic resources for K-12 students, including the Grolier Encyclopedia.
• Provision of $35 in resources for every $1 of LSTA funding through statewide purchasing of electronic information now available through more than 5,000 subscribing libraries.

This document is available in .PDF format