South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of all state library aid will have a huge impact on the Union County Carnegie Library and the library is fighting back.

The library has started a petition and letter-writing campaign opposing Sanford’s veto. The petition is located at the library and anyone over the age of 18 can sign it until the library closes at 8 p.m. Monday, June 14. The petition will be delivered Tuesday morning in Columbia at the State House of Representatives where another vote will take place. The library is also offering to fax letters to legislators to ensure fast delivery.

Jennifer Alexander — library board of trustees chairperson — stated Sanford’s reasoning for the veto is that libraries are receiving lottery funding. According to Alexander, the library does not receive lottery funding anymore.

“We used to receive varied funding from the lottery, but that hasn’t been the case in a couple of years,” Alexander said.

The Union County Carnegie Library Board of Trustees had already discussed a reduction of hours for the next fiscal year which starts July 1. If the library is cut off from receiving state aid, the reduction of hours would be much greater.

“This would have a huge impact on our county,” Alexander said. “We have the only free internet access in the county.”

Alexander also stated the library regularly accommodates people who rely on it to look for job openings and create resumes, sometimes waiting for long periods of time to use library computers.

“Cutting funds to public libraries further jeopardizes the economy,” Alexander said. “Public libraries provide crucial educational and employment assistance and if this funding goes away so does our ability to educate and prepare students and the unemployed for the workforce. Aid to public libraries is funding that supports direct public services: staff, technology and books.

“We don’t want to be one of the 150-200 rural libraries that close every year,” she said.