Sign our petition and show Gov. Jay Nixon and Missouri legislators that you support state funding of Missouri’s public libraries, and the important services those funds support.

This year Missouri’s governor is withholding money that was budgeted for public libraries serving populations over 40,000. Joplin’s portion amounts to over $36,000 of revenue. Additionally, it will cost the library almost $30,000 more to replace the databases we will lose as a result of this. Some of this money is a subsidy for Internet connections and some is for state aid to libraries, which pays for materials and equipment.

In addition, the loss of this revenue will affect the State Library's ability to offer grant funding for special projects. The State's funding of libraries served as matching funds for federal money passed through the State Library for grants. Joplin Public Library has averaged receiving more than $30,000/year in special grant funds.

All in all, this can cause us to lose almost $100,000 between revenue and increased costs.

We appreciate the governor’s support of libraries in the past, but our budget year is half over and if that money is not released, patrons will see fewer books, computers and Internet connections.