Support South Dakota libraries | Letter to the Editor

Have you ever visited your local library? Has your child or grandchild, student or family member? Maybe you don’t check out books, but do you attend programs at your library or participate in a summer reading program or read a book through the Libby app? 

I hope for everyone reading this the answer is a resounding yes, and I also hope that means that you will reach out to your elected officials urging them to fight Gov. Noem’s proposed $1 million cut to the South Dakota State Library. 

The proposed cut would be devastating for local libraries like our vibrant Doland Community Library, the Watertown Regional Library and all of the patrons who rely on the programs and services offered through them. 

Consider this: In 2024, more than 6,200 people visited the Doland Community Library. In a community of fewer than 200 people. That’s incredible.

Now imagine if the proposed cut to the State Library funding happens – what programs and services will be lost? Well, take a look at what’s at stake:

The State Library helps with the costs associated with this service to allow patrons who are registered users to check out e-books on their devices. 

The Doland Community Library has a certified librarian thanks to the State Library, which opens our library up to additional services and grants.  

Our State Library provides crucial guidance and education to our librarian and library board members in the operating of our library as an accredited library.

The Doland Community Library offers a top-notch Summer Reading Program that brings hundreds of adults and children to our community on several days of the six-week event. The training, manuals and funding for the program comes from the State Library.

Interlibrary Loan Support: Thanks to this program from the State Library, patrons can access books from across the state.

SD Reads: This program promotes reading across the state and you yourself were a recent participant who read to our students.

Legal guidance: The State Library holds each library accountable and helps ensure applicable laws are being followed. 

The State Library pays for several free databases available such as Ancestry.com, SAT study guides and practice tests.

The State Library provides additional tools to promote literacy such as Birth to Five, 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, Canva, and the Stephanie Miller Summer Reading Program Grant. 

It goes without saying that the State Library is an incredible resource for our local libraries. Any cut would be felt not just at the state level through reduced staff and diminished services, but also by me, my family and every other patron in our rural area. 

If you’re alarmed by this potentially devastating proposed cut, please consider contacting your elected officials. You can find your legislators at https://sdlegislature.gov/legislators/find. The more we can let our elected officials know how valuable our State Library is, the more inclined they will be to preserve the funding for our State Library, which serves so many of us at the local level.

Danielle (Troske) Teigen, Doland Community Library Board Member, Turton