LIBRARIES GET BOOST FROM SPECIAL TAX

Taxes paid by athletes and entertainers who live outside Missouri and earn money in the state help put new books in area libraries.

Missouri public libraries will get the first allocation of money from a fund to enhance book collections with revenue raised from state income tax paid by nonresident professional athletes and entertainers who work in Missouri, said Secretary of State Bekki Cook.

Locally, the Cape Girardeau Public Library will receive $5,573.66 while the six branches of Riverside Regional Library will receive a combined total of $10,666.27.

"The tax on athletes and entertainers has been around a long time," said Jim Grebing, communications director for the Missouri secretary of state's office. "But until recently half of the money went to the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund, and the other half went to general revenue."

In 1998, legislation passed to earmark the undedicated portion of the money for more arts and cultural programs, Grebing said. Of that money, 10 percent was designated to go to the Missouri State Library Networking Fund to help public libraries purchase books.

For the current fiscal year, the first year the money has been distributed, $829,109 will go to the book fund.

"There are a lot of programs available to assist public libraries with automation projects and providing Internet access to patrons, which are very important," Cook said. "But despite the new technology that is changing our lives and the tremendous amount of information that is available to us electronically, books are still an important part of our lives. Missourians still want to find books in their libraries, and this funding will help make that possible."

Betty Martin, director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library, said money from the fund is appreciated because there are so few grants or funds available for the purchase of books.

"Books are still the main draw for the library," said Paula Gresham-Bequette, interim director of Riverside Regional Library. "This is a great opportunity to expand our collection."

The state's six largest library districts will receive $50,000 each. Of the remaining $529,109, half will be used to give each library certified for the state-aid program a base payment of $1,120.99 for each facility in its district. The other half will be used to provide a match based on the amount of money spent on book collections by the library in its 1999 statistical report.

The Cape Girardeau library will receive the base payment plus a collection match of $4,452.67 for a total of $5,573.66. Martin said about half of the money will be used by the youth services division to buy nonfiction books for its young-adult and juvenile collections. About $1,000 will be used for books on compact disc. Martin said books on tape have been very popular, but an increasing number of patrons now have CD players rather than tape players in their cars. The money will increase the books on CD titles at the library from 35 to 85.

The rest of the money will be used to update the library's nonfiction collection.

"There are so many subjects people request books on: travel, medicine, home repair. This will help fill some of those requests," Martin said.

The Riverside library will receive the base payment for each of its six facilities plus a collection match of $3,940.31 for a total of $10,666.27. Gresham-Bequette said plans for the funds have not been finalized.

No money was allocated to the Jackson Public Library, which is among six libraries in the state that have not been certified for state aid because they don't meet the minimum levee requirement, Grebing said.

Total amounts that will go to other libraries in the area: $1,227.90 to Bernie Public Library in Bernie; $1,208.23 to Bloomfield Public Library in Bloomfield; $1,638.95 to Bollinger County Library in Marble Hill; $1,819.89 to Caruthersville Public Library in Caruthersville; $1,462.91 to Chaffee Public Library in Chaffee; $2,939.70 to Doniphan-Ripley County Library in Doniphan; $13,777.71 to Dunklin County Library in Kennett; $2,498.92 to Farmington Public Library in Farmington; $2,284.59 to Keller Public Library in Dexter; $3,106.90 to Mississippi County Library in Charleston; $1,562.41 to Piedmont Public Library in Piedmont; $2,791.81 to Poplar Bluff Public Library in Poplar Bluff; $1,498.52 to Puxico Public Library in Puxico; $2,525.91 to Sikeston Public Library in Sikeston.

"This program will assist public libraries in their efforts to improve both the quality and quantity of their book collections," said Sara Parker, state librarian. "Many smaller libraries have outdated books in their collections, and this will help them keep current and accurate books particularly in areas where information changes rapidly such as health, business, sciences and consumer information."