Library Foundation SD

Our CEO Patrick Stewart addressed the @sandiegocitycouncil Budget Review Committee yesterday with a clear message: cuts to Libraries are cuts to public safety, economic development, arts, children, youth, and families. San Diego’s Public Libraries have faced decades of divestment, over $60 million in building disrepair, and a Library ordinance that has not been honored once in 25 years. Private philanthropy has contributed just under $180 million to support the San Diego Public Library over the past 25 years. That generosity is built on a promise that the Library exists, its doors are open, and every San Diegan has access. Philanthropy can support our Libraries. It cannot replace public investment. Thank you to everyone who has showed up in the many available ways to advocate for our Libraries. The next opportunity to make your voice heard is May 18th. Sign up for a set of postcards stamped and addressed to each City Council Member to let them know you want them to FUND THE SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY! libraryfoundationsd.org/take-action #SanDiego #PublicLibrary #LibraryFoundationSD #BudgetPriorities #CivicInfrastructure

It's never just the Library. Click on the TAKE ACTION link in the bio or take a screen shot and click here: libraryfoundationsd.org/take-action #LibraryFoundationSD #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #SDPL #FundTheLibrary

Comment SDPL and we’ll send you all the links! Today is Take Action for Libraries Day, and we need your voice as a @sdpubliclibrary advocate. As the City of San Diego conducts its annual budget process, join us in urging our leaders to recognize San Diego Public Library as the cornerstone of public services it truly is. Here’s how you can take action: 💻 SEND AN EMAIL using our online automated form to tell your elected officials to fund our libraries. 🎤 SPEAK UP at a city budget hearing to tell your elected officials to fund our libraries. 📬 SEND POSTCARDS telling the Mayor and your City Councilmember to support Library funding. Stop by @LibraryShopSD this weekend at the @sdbookcrawl (April 25–27) to pick one up. ✍️ HOST A POSTCARD WRITING EVENT with your book club or bookworm friends! 💭 ATTEND a Q+A on the proposed cuts and the City’s budget process. 🤝 SHARE this with a friend. 🔗 Comment SDPL for the links to TAKE ACTION NOW! Together, we can ensure San Diego has the world-class Library department it deserves. #LibraryFoundationSD #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #FundOurLibraries #NationalLibraryWeek

📖 Growing up is hard. Being chronically underfunded is harder. We've been asking the City budget for a little respect for a while now. This is our Judy Blume moment. Are you there, Budget? It's me, Library. It's time you talked to the City Council to ask them to fund the Library! YOU will have your chance tomorrow, May 18th at 6pm. Find all the info you need at the SPEAK UP link in our linktree. #FundTheLibrary #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #LibraryFoundationSD

🔥 Just a cool 1,200 postcards (a fraction of what has been sent to the Mayor) and we NEED YOU to show up to write 2,000 more that have just dropped. This time to San Diego City Councilmembers. The budget is in their hands. Stop by either @libraryshopsd location this week, grab a card (or a stack), and tell City Council what’s up. Library hours. Library funding. The programs your neighbors count on. Say it with your whole chest. We’ll handle the mailing. You just have to show up. Can’t come in? Sign up to SEND A POSTCARD and we’ll mail you a packet straight to your door. We have 350 to get out, so don’t wait. If you are feeling ready to DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT at City Council, please join us on MONDAY, MAY 18th at 6pm to make your voice heard. 🔥Comment HOT below and we’ll send you all the details to your DMs. Let CITY COUNCIL know you want them to FUND THE SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY! Either way, send this to someone who needs to see it. 📍 Library Shop Central Mon + Tue 11:30am - 5:30pm Wed-Sat 10:30am - 5:30pm 📍 Library Shop Mission Hills Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm Sun 11am - 6pm

The wild things don't go quietly. Comment ROAR for details. This Monday, May 18th at 6pm, City Council needs to hear from you. The Library is where imagination lives. Where kids who feel too big for their rooms find a kingdom that fits. Proposed budget cuts threaten Library hours, art programs, and youth services that make that magic real. 📚 Show up. Speak up. Be the wild things this City needs. Let’s Roar! #FundTheLibrary #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #LibraryFoundationSD

📮 The mayor’s budget revise was just an opening move. Your City Councilmembers are the ones who decide what stays and what goes from here. Now it’s time to write to them directly. We just restocked with 2,000 new postcards and 350 postcard packets, and every message counts. The new cards are addressed “Dear ___” so you can write to your specific councilmember (or all nine, if you’re feeling fired up). Tell them exactly what’s at stake: Library hours, Library programs, arts, and youth services your neighbors depend on. Stop by either Library Shop location and fill out a few, or click the SEND A POSTCARD link in our bio to get a full packet delivered to your door. libraryfoundationsd.org/take-action Keep writing. Keep showing up. 📍 Library Shop Central Library | Mon + Tue 11:30am - 5:30pm, Wed-Sat 10:30am - 5:30pm 📍 Library Shop Mission Hills | Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 11am - 6pm

Official response from @LibraryFoundationSD CEO Patrick Stewart: “Library Foundation SD is pleased to see the Mayor’s revised FY 2027 budget has reduced some proposed cuts to the Library department – which San Diegans see as a core City service. This is a move in the right direction as the proposed budget is no longer considering closing a branch before it is scheduled for a capital improvement project. The partial restoration of the Library Matching Funds is also critical as this is a key element in the ongoing public-private support of the San Diego Public Library system. I’m looking forward to collaborating with City Councilmembers during the rest of the FY2027 budget process to find additional funds to support the critical arts programs, youth services, and economic development initiatives provided by the Library department.” The budget is now in the hands of the City Council. Monday, May 18th is your next opportunity to speak up. Read the Mayor’s press release and learn more about how you can make your voice heard at the TAKE ACTION links in our bio. #sandiegopubliclibrary #sdpl #sandiego

🦸 $6.3 million in cuts. NOT thrilling. Captain Underfunded has been quietly holding it together across 37 branches, serving nearly 7 million San Diegans a year, on one of the leanest library budgets in California. This is not the origin story we wanted. But it IS one we can change. Click the TAKE ACTION link in our bio. Drop your budget-era book title below. Captain Underfunded needs backup and he needs it in the comments. 👇 #FundTheLibrary #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #LibraryFoundationSD

Shout out to @libraryshopsd for making reaching out to my representatives as easy as pushing a button and sending a post card! Listen, this isn’t just happening in San Diego. Hubs for communities are under extreme stress and facing shut down across the country. As a reader, the library is sacred but it’s more than that! As a kid, I remember going to the library with my mom for story time and a new book, FOR FREE! I learned to take care of the books because they weren’t just for me. They were for EVERYBODY! As a social worker, when I started my masters program, I remember being really confused that there was a practicum at the library. Then I learned about all of the ways that librarians step up and the information and ACCESS they hold for the community. Don’t get it twisted. This isn’t just about books! You cut the funds to a library, you cut a community down. If you’re local to SD, check out the link to see how you can support and reach out to your representatives. If you’re in a different area, make sure you’re showing your library support. Whether it’s for that young reader learning or the person who didn’t know how much a library could mean. They need you to!

"This isn't chess. Not everyone starts with the same pieces." - Councilmember Foster Libraries are how San Diego levels the board. Don't cut them. #LibraryFoundationSD #SanDiegoPublicLibrary

Some days you wake up and the Library is closed. And the story time is canceled. And the City has proposed $6.3 million in cuts to the @sdpubliclibrary . Some days are just like that. Even in San Diego. We're not moving to Australia. We're going to TAKE ACTION at the link in @libraryfoundationsd 's bio. 📚 Drop your budget-era book title in the comments. We're building the whole shelf. 👇 #FundTheLibrary #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #LibraryFoundationSD