NEWS RELEASE

Libraries certified in the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners' (MBLC) State Aid to Public Libraries Program receive local aid funding to directly support public library services. For FY2025, 347 municipalities and their libraries are certified in the program and will share $20 million in state aid funding.

"Libraries rely on this support from the state to update technology, provide programming, and in some cases to keep the doors open" said MBLC Chair Vicky Biancolo. "The State Aid to Public Libraries Program is at the core of the strong statewide public library system we enjoy in the Commonwealth." MBLC Commissioners have made funding the State Aid to Public Libraries Program a priority in the FY2026 Legislative Agenda.

In total, 339 libraries met all State Aid to Public Libraries program requirements and 8 libraries requested waivers of the Municipal Appropriations Requirement (MAR). At its February Board Meeting, the MBLC Commissioners approved MAR waivers for the following communities: Dunstable, Florida, Hancock, Hanover, Salisbury, Tyringham, Westford and Wales. The MAR is funding, required in statute, to be provided by the municipality to support the library. The four-year average number of MAR waivers is 12, well below the 2011 high of 123 waiver applications.

The MAR and other State Aid requirements help create a strong foundation for reciprocal borrowing that allows patrons from certified libraries to borrow materials from other libraries. Last year residents borrowed more than 6.4 million items from libraries outside their own communities.

Funding from the State Aid to Public Libraries Program goes directly to support public library services. The reciprocity that comes with library certification in the State Aid program is often what library visitors value most. It allows library patrons to use any State Aid certified library in the Commonwealth and gives access to more than 59 million items available through the shared library system.

State Aid has been awarded to municipalities and their libraries since 1890 when The Acts of 1890, chapter 347, ‘An Act to Promote the Establishment and Efficiency of Free Public Libraries,’ established the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, now known as the MBLC. More information about the State Aid to Public Library Program 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.