Kansas library professionals, forced to mobilize quickly and using social media to rally support and spread their message, convinced lawmakers to remove language from a fast-tracked tax bill that they said threatened the survival of the state's seven regional systems and, in turn, promised a trickle-down reduction in services from public libraries. The bill, known as HB 2719, was designed, legislators wrote, to "empower" Kansas voters with greater control over property taxes by requiring levies to be set or approved by an elected body. A host of public entities would be affected-including airports, museums, parks, recreation commissions, water districts, and fire services-but it was the section on libraries that spurred the most concentrated advocacy effort.
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