In preparing my letter for National Library Legislative Day, I came across this factoid: At a $36 Million level of funding for the Federal Depository Library Program, the program would have a per capita cost of TWELVE CENTS for each of the United States’ 296,034,744 inhabitants.
According to such experts as former Congressional staffer Bernadine Abbott-Hoduski, $36 Million would allow GPO to continue the current level of tangible distribution while putting their National Collection and Future Digital System in place. Isn’t that worth TWELVE CENTS per person? If you agree, take some time today to write your Congressional Delegation. Information and talking points are available at the link above.
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I think that’s amazing. Twelve cents a year from each American to make our public documents available to the public. Less than fifty cents a year for a family of four; less than a dollar for a family of eight, like the one I grew up in. That figure should be talked up more. “36 million” sounds like a lot, but “one cent a month” shows just what a bargain the FDLP truly is.