NEWS RELEASE

At its February Board Meeting, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) wrapped up the FY2023 State Aid to Public Libraries application process by approving waivers of Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) for eight applicants. FY2023 State Aid program grants total more than $16 million, the largest in the program’s 100 year history. This is the 3^rd year that the program has maintained the record high of 347 libraries state aid certified.

The increase in the grant amounts has benefited local libraries that may use state aid funding to buy computers, increase hours, buy materials, or in any way that directly supports the library. Attleboro, for example, went from $59,422.67 in state aid funding in 2015 to an estimated* $108,778 in the current cycle. Libraries have received roughly half their grant awards and following the Commonwealth's disbursement schedule, additional payments to libraries are expected toward the end of the grant cycle in the spring.

Libraries in Duxbury, Fairhaven, Hanover, Lawrence, Stoughton, Walpole, Ware and Woburn received MAR waivers. The number of libraries needing a MAR waiver is lower than pre-pandemic levels when 15 libraries were granted waivers and sharply lower than the 2011 high of 123 waivers. The MAR is municipal funding to support the library. This and other requirements help create a foundation for reciprocal borrowing which allows patrons to use any State Aid certified library in the Commonwealth and gives them access to more than 59 million items available through the shared library system.

More information about the benefits of the State Aid to Public Libraries Program and additional program information is available on the MBLC website, along with a list of municipalities that are currently certified and those that are not certified in the program.

 *Exact awards are currently being calculated.