Libraries across the state could lose Michigan eLibrary (MeL) services, including interlibrary loan and electronic databases, if Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget passes as presented.

Niles District Library would be one of them, according to Director Nancy Studebaker.

The proposed budget slashes library funding by 40 percent, so Niles District Library stands to lose about $5,000. This comes after a 40 percent reduction in funding between 2008 and 2010.

“But that’s just a little bitty part of the problem,” Studebaker said. State aid is used as matching funds for federal dollars, which finance MeL services.

“It’s putting those services at serious risk,” Studebaker said.

The MeL, which allows users to do research on its extensive online database and to borrow books from other libraries across the state, has grown in popularity at the Niles District Library recently.

“We have had a 40 percent increase in MeLCat (interlibrary loan) in our library,” Studebaker said. “It’s growing in popularity every week. Our patrons borrow 120 items a week from other libraries.”

This is despite the fact the service has not been heavily promoted and has only been offered for about a year.

Christine Berro, board president of the Michigan Library Association, said that due to the cuts, “the entire (MeL) system is at risk of collapsing.”

Studebaker said the proposed state budget goes against “the shared sacrifice the governor says he supports.”

“It’s hitting us harder than most any other segment of the budget,” she said. “But the cuts for libraries are coming from all angles.”

Due to the dwindling tax base, the library also expects a reduction in property tax income. To combat this reduction, last year the library had to cut library staff hours by 70 hours per week and offered an early retirement program to employees.

“We are facing a perfect storm of funding cuts,” said Berro. “Every source of funding available to libraries — state aid, renaissance zone reimbursements, tax capture of dedicated library millages, elimination of personal property taxes and federal funds — being chopped off at the knees. There isn’t much more we can take and be expected to survive.”

The proposed cuts also could mean the end of regional library systems or library co-ops.

Berro estimates that within two years, 11 library co-ops will close, GED test preparation services will be eliminated and a number of individual libraries will shut their doors.