Governor Noem’s budget address from December 3rd proposes drastic cuts to the South Dakota State Library. A bill outlining the cuts has been delivered to the legislature for the 2025 session. South Dakota will be the only state to have our state library reduced to just a Braille and Talking Books Program. The budget doesn’t provide support for the libraries within our state and would especially hurt the small rural libraries who depend on the State library for training to become the best we can be as library directors. Rural libraries depend heavily on the Shared Inter library loan to allow libraries to borrow or loan books to libraries across the state for our patrons. The Libby app for borrowing e-books and audio books will not go away, but the ability to add new materials to the Libby app is supported by the State Library, so no new materials. Databases which include encyclopedias and newspapers and magazines from around the country, even the world, medical sites, ancestry databases and the list goes on will go away. The information in these databases has been researched and brought to you for no charge from the State library and can be accessed at your local library.

On the local level the budgets of libraries supported by city funding may have to cut hours and personnel. The services we provide may be affected.

How can you help? Write/ text/email to your District 21 legislators telling them what the library in Lake Andes means to you. If you need help with legislator contact info or want to discuss further the proposed cuts, please contact the library.