The Missouri River Regional Library system is expecting to receive an additional $53,000 in funding as a result of Gov. Jay Nixon's decision on Friday to release millions in state funding.
No one in Cole County is more delighted by that news than Library Director Claudia Schoonover.
"It's a belated Christmas present," she said. "It's what we've been raising our voices in unison about."
Library systems like MRRL receive state funding from two pools: State Aid to Local Libraries - used for everything from collections to programming - and Remote Access for Local Libraries (REAL) - which helps pay for Internet service.
In fiscal year 2015, lawmakers budgeted $3.5 million in state library aid and $3.1 million in internet access.
However, in an effort to keep the budget balanced, last summer the governor chose to only release $723,776 for library aid and he withheld the entire $3.1 million amount appropriated for the REAL program. According to Nixon's office, state revenues remain below the levels necessary to fully fund the fiscal year 2015 budget passed last year by the General Assembly, which was several hundred millions out of balance.
Although a small amount was restored in November to libraries serving populations with fewer than 40,000 people - which applies to the Osage County patrons - it wasn't much.
Schoonover said, in her 19 years of service, she had never seen Missouri's libraries be in such jeopardy of losing their state funding.
The cuts had an impact at MRRL.
"We tightened our belts and asked managers to keep their budgets the same, only requesting what we really needed," she said.
The cuts also threatened the library's current work renovating the building, first constructed in the early 1970s.
Although the library had been setting aside money for the upgrades for two years, Schoonover said "it impacted us from a facilities standpoint" and noted the cuts would likely have slowed the renovation work.
Although workers have replaced the building's main electrical panel, air handlers, boilers and ceiling, there are still more projects to go, including the building's chiller.
"We have a long list," Schoonover said.
As a result of the governor's news on Friday, Schoonover expected the library to receive Cole County's share of the state aid - approximately $38,000 - and the REAL funding - about $15,000, for a total of $53,000.
The money means MRRL will be able to restore some programming, add to the libraries collection and expand the digital databases it offers, like Ancestry.com.
Schoonover said funding was restored because library supporters statewide were determined to not be ignored. In the last couple of weeks, Schoonover has visited with lawmakers, written a letter to the News Tribune and invited Nixon to visit her library.
"We've never had this much at stake before so we stepped up our presence at the Capitol because of this," she said. "I feel librarians around the state have stayed strong and united. We were noisy and we fought the good fight."
She cautioned that the fight is not over yet.
"This is wonderful news, but we're concerned about 2016 as well," she said, noting policy makers are still considering making the cuts permanent.
She said libraries afford people the ability to read hundreds of books at a very low cost. Also, she hopes people who do have the resources to purchase their own books, will be willing to continue to provide resources to others who do not.
"We serve some of the most-vulnerable people in our communities," she said.