Dear Editor,

The Springfield Library staff have been patiently waiting for the final decision relative to the next 2026-2027 budget cut of $500,000. Hope now is that the City Council could still mitigate this drastic cut in services and materials, even though before the budget was reviewed by the Budget Committee, the City had removed two staff positions.

The Springfield Library is certainly no great financial burden to the financial operation of the City, and due to the hard work and efficiency of our Staff, it operates quite successfully, even though our City Budget funding for per-capita operating revenue, staff expenditures, and both physical and digital collection expenditures, measures at the bottom third of Lane County and other nearby libraries.

So … recognizing our critical historical deficiencies and deciding to make them worse is a decision with dire near-term effects.

These and further reductions will erode library services to you, the public, by closing the Library an additional day, and lessening the important role the library plays with regularly scheduled family and children’s events, teen programs, and helping families to improve child literacy.

The stage is set for a future dismal outcome, and we need your help in stopping this senseless action! Please join us at the Springfield Budget Committee meeting on May 4th at the Springfield Justice Center at 5:30, 230 Fourth Street, second floor meeting room, and sign up to address the Committee in support of your Library!

James Lauinger, Library volunteer