Ohio Libraries Turn to their Community as Funding Falls

When Ohio House Bill 96 took effect in July 2025 and slashed more than $100 million from the Public Library Fund, or PLF, libraries across the Buckeye State braced for impact. For many smaller or rural systems,  including those in Portage, Summit, and Cuyahoga counties, the cuts threaten to erode services at a moment when demand may surge again. 

 

Still, some local libraries say they are managing for now, in part thanks to voter-approved levies and community generosity.

 

Across Ohio, the new budget shifts library funding from a stable share of state tax revenue into a fixed line-item appropriation. That change alone reduces statewide PLF funding from $504.6 million in fiscal year 2025 to roughly $479.7 million for fiscal year 2026 – a cut of about $25 million.

 

The result is nearly all 251 public library systems in Ohio face leaner budgets. Many smaller systems — including rural ones or those that never passed a local levy — face deep cuts in operating hours, staff, collections, and programs.

 

To give a sense of what this looks like on the ground, I spoke to several library directors.

 

At the Portage County District Library, which serves most of Portage County except for the districts served by Kent Free Library and Reed Memorial Library, Director Jon Harris says the library is “in a relatively safe place”  for the time being. 

The library gained local support with a property-tax levy that passed in 2021, until then it had operated solely on state funding. That local levy added a buffer, giving PCDL a degree of ongoing stability not shared by every library in Ohio.

 

Because of the levy, PCDL did not have to make immediate cuts when the PLF was cut. In fact, the library increased branch hours, opened a branch in Brimfield, and resumed bookmobile service, whose outreach had been dormant. Renovations and planned upgrades to older locations are also part of its long-range plan.

But Harris is concerned about what’s to come. Because the switch has been made to a flat appropriation, there is no longer a guarantee that the PLF will be funded at the same level-or at all-in future budgets. Funding now depends on the political priorities of whoever controls the Governor’s office and General Assembly.

 

“There’s a lot of uncertainty going forward,” Harris said. “This year we’re okay. Two years from now, when the next budget comes, who knows?” He added that libraries larger than his have run cost estimates for proposed new legislation requiring segregation of certain materials. Efforts that could run into the millions to implement, and that PCDL simply would not invest in.

 

At the same time, morale is shaky. 

 

Harris described a growingsense among staff and some community members that public libraries are under attack, not just financially, but politically. He said libraries depend on community members showing up, using the service and advocating for their right to access it. In his view, libraries are not meant for “just some people”, but they belong to everyone.

 

In the nearby Kent Free Library, director Stacey Richardson, the cuts seem more modest. Richardson estimated that in the first fiscal year of the new budget cycle, the library might lose about $9,000 in state funding, a small number, she said, and one which doesn’t threaten current operations. By the second fiscal year, the projected cut climbs to roughly $45,000.

Thanks again to local levies, Kent Free Library says it expects to absorb those reductions without cutting services, staff or programs — though that may mean running with a smaller carry-over balance than usual. 

 

They haven’t scrapped any after-school programs, community offerings, or staffing yet, and there are no announced plans to do so.

 

Richardson said that, for now, sheisn’t looking tomake any big changes. Instead the library is bracing for the next budget, when deeper cuts might come.

 

The message to community members: keep using the library, spread the word about its value, and support it however you can.

These responses reflect broader statewide concerns voiced by the Ohio Library Council (OLC). The OLC warns that the $25–$100 million reduction under HB 96 threatens “vital services” including after-school and summer learning programs, homework help, early childhood literacy, adult education, digital literacy, and access to broadband and job-search resources.

 

In some counties, specifically those with no local levies, the consequences could be severe. There is growing talk of reduced operating hours, fewer library staff, fewer public computer terminals, and even full closures of low-traffic branches. Programs like tutoring, summer reading, workforce training, and community outreach might be curtailed or eliminated.

 

For libraries serving the densities and diversities in Summit and Cuyahoga counties, which have children, immigrants, seniors, and job seekers, even small cuts may erode resources during an extremely high level of social and economic instability. According to campaign materials that have been circulating through libraries in these communities, the budget changes put into question children’s programming, adult education, digital access, partnering with schools, and even basic library operating hours.

 

It is not just about funding. Contained in the budget was a contentious measure that would require public libraries to segregate materials related to sexual orientation or gender identity so minors cannot see them. That drew swift backlash from librarians and civil rights advocates; thankfully, the provision was vetoed by the governor. But the fact that it passed in the House shows how precarious the situation has become — libraries are not only fighting for funding, but for its mission of open access.

 

Library leaders I spoke with emphasized what is most needed now: community awareness and support. At Portage County, Harris said, “show up.” He implored residents to get their neighbors, family members, friends to come to the library often to show that “everyone belongs” there.

 

At Kent, Richardson urged patrons to spread the word. “The more people who get through our doors, the stronger we are,” she said, and because funding, she warned, will continue to depend not on formulas, but on votes and public demand.

 

In Ohio’s shifting political and fiscal landscape, the survival of public libraries and the programs they offer children, teens, seniors, job-seekers, and lifelong learners-may depend more than ever on community engagement.

 

Whether that relative stability holds through the next budget cycle is anybody’s guess. But for now, libraries such as the Portage County District Library and the Kent Free Library are doing what they have always done: trying to serve their communities quietly, persistently, and with a hope that their neighbors will return the favor.