Your View: State Budget Will Impact How Libraries Operate
Vol. III, No. 36 - Ohio's State Budget means more than just dollars and cents
The purpose of Civic Capacity is to help our readers and subscribers have a better understanding of the issues and ideas that come from government that impact our lives. As part of that purpose, this publication readily accepts pieces from our community that brings up issues of importance to our community.
Today, this publication features a submission from Rachelle Via, the Director of the Troy-Miami County Public Library. If you wish to have your issues and ideas published in this newsletter, please feel free to submit them to pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Ohio’s Fiscal Year 2026-2027 state budget includes a $25 million reduction in funding to public libraries. However, an even more alarming provision buried in the budget will require public libraries to segregate materials to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, guaranteeing they are not visible to anyone under 18.
Because the language is dangerously vague and overly broad, libraries will be spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on attorney fees and capital projects attempting to meet an unreachable—and ultimately unworkable—goal.
Picture your local library with its rows of shelves, but with a subtle difference. Towards the back, there’s a (rather large) restricted area with a newly built wall—or a curtain—and signage that reads, “18+ materials—Access on Request per the Ohio Legislature, HB 96.”
This space will likely include:
All newspapers and magazines (librarians won’t have time to read them all before putting them out to be freely accessible)
Informational health resources and science books—not because of explicit content but because they reference sexual orientation or gender identity
Young adult novels
Adult novels
DVDs—again, not because of explicit content but because they reference sexual orientation or gender identity
Memoirs (Elton John, Carl Nassib, Harvey Milk, Lil Nas X, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Leonardo DaVinci, Gertrude Stein, Eleanor Roosevelt)
Bibles (Galatians 3:28 is open to interpretation and Isaiah, Matthew, and Acts talk about Eunuchs)
And likely much more….
Libraries won’t be able to accept book donations for book sales or for their collections due to lack of manpower to read every book donated and also because the books can’t legally enter the library without first being judged appropriate for those under the age of 18.
If this is not what you want in your public library, consider asking Governor Mike DeWine to use his line-item veto powers to remove it from the budget bill. Please remember, this provision was placed into the budget by legislators, not the governor.
Libraries have policies to guide collection development and believe that parents and guardians should determine what their children read—not politicians, and not librarians.
TMCPL stands by the community’s Freedom to Read. See the Board of Trustees statement here: https://tinyurl.com/ms76se7h
Governor DeWine contact page: https://governor.ohio.gov/contact
City Wants YOUR Input on Park Improvements
Now is the time for Troy residents to get involved and advocate for the changes that will truly benefit the community. Your input will help ensure that the city’s limited resources are invested where they are needed most, creating parks and recreation facilities that reflect the real priorities of Troy’s families and youth. Those wanting to participate in the survey can go to: www.troyohio.gov/parkplanning/
Check out our New YouTube Channel!
Our goal with the Civic Capacity YouTube Channel is to be a centralized location where residents can watch videos of local government meetings in action and also provide comments and insights.
You can check out the channel here!
Thank you to our New Media Partners!
Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!
Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!
In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome! It gives continuous weather updates with all the vibes from the Weather Channel from the 1980s. More importanly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!
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