7/27/2019 Kellner Bill to Aid Research Libraries Enacted Into Law Release

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MICAH Z. KELLNER65thAssembly District

THE ASSEMBLYSTATE OF NEW YORK

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September 30, 2013 Contact: Brice Peyre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office:(212) 860-4906

ASSEMBLY MEMBER MICAH KELLNERS

BILL TO AID NYS RESEARCH LIBRARIES

IS SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR CUOMO

Kellner Law Will Ease New Yorks Big 11 Research Libraries

Conservation & Preservation Efforts

Legislation streamlining New Yorks research libraries preservation and conservation efforts authoredby Assembly Member Micah Kellner (D/WFP-Manhattan & Roosevelt Island) was signed into law onFriday by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The law (A4664) increases the statutory amount of annual funding for each of New York States BigEleven research libraries from $126,000 to $158,000. The new law also eliminates the burdensome,labor-intensive requirements of the competitive grant process for preservation and conservationprograms, a change sought by the research libraries and the NYS Education Department for severalyears.

I am proud to have written a law that will help New York States outstanding research librariesstreamline their efforts to preserve and conserve important materials, said Assembly Member Kellner.In this difficult economic and budgetary climate, these vital educational and cultural institutions needto operate as efficiently as possible, and this new law will help them do just that, he said.

The same-as companion measure to Assembly Member Kellners bill in the New York State Senate,S02856-B, was introduced by Senator Hugh Farley (R/C/I-Schenectady).

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834 Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 (518) 455-5676, FAX (518) 455-5282 1365 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10021 (212) 860-4906, FAX (917) 432-2983

E-mail: KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us

7/27/2019 Kellner Bill to Aid Research Libraries Enacted Into Law Release

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Background:

New York State's administrative requirements for competitive grant programs become increasinglystringent in recent years, with multiple and costly layers of review and approvals. These costly layers

of review drain limited staffing resources and result in long delays in grant approvals by controlagencies. The administrative burden consequently outweighs the benefits of these relatively small,targeted competitive grant programs. SED and the research libraries believe increasing the statutoryformulas for the Big Eleven research libraries is a better use of State funding than theconservation/preservation grant program.

New York States Big Eleven research libraries are:

Columbia University LibrariesCornell University LibrariesNew York State Library

New York University LibrariesUniversity of Rochester LibrariesSyracuse University LibrariesThe Research Libraries of the New York Public LibraryUniversity at Albany Libraries, SUNYBinghamton University Libraries, SUNYUniversity at Buffalo Libraries, SUNYStony Brook University Libraries, SUNY

Assembly Member Kellner chairs the New York State Assembly Committee on Libraries andEducation Technology. He will be offering testimony at the New York City Council hearing onCapital Construction Needs and the Potential Disposal of Libraries in New York City that is beingconvened at 1:00 p.m. today at the Council hearing on the 16th floor of 250 Broadway.

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