Proposition 13 - America's Second Great Tax Revolt

In 1978, the citizens of California took the historic step of voting for
Proposition 13, thus reducing property taxes by 57%. Already known
as a trend setting state, California's tax revolt was no different,
as similar tax revisions quickly spread across the United States of
America. In California, state and local governments struggled to find
a way to manage the loss in revenue. On many occasions budget
cuts were the solution. Library budgets were frequently the target of
those cuts.


Proposition 13 - America's Second Great Tax Revolt details how
libraries prioritized, managed and reacted to hardships in this new
world, and have done so in California for the last forty years where
Proposition 13 is still the law. Library and information science
professionals were facing budget cuts that were as high as 65%
with little to no guarantee of what future budgets were to be. The
actions they took, and the rationale behind those actions, offer
significant lessons to be learned by the library community on both
an academic and practitioner level.



Exploring the intended and unintended consequences of
Proposition 13, this book provides an insightful understanding of
how to manage a library budget given a difficult funding situation. It
examines the thought processes behind government financing and
spending priorities, and considers how libraries can organize, and
participate in activism to influence decision makers.