<div style="color:;font: 12pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">
<div id="yiv5058365799">
<div style="font:12pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-family:Sans Tahoma, sans-serif;margin-bottom:14px;"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dear FACRL Friends and Colleagues,</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">On Monday, Elijah Scott, Executive Director of FALSC, learned that Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the entire Complete Florida Plus Program funding, which includes all funding for the Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative (FALSC). </font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">Please see below:</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/06/30/desantis-kills-online-learning-program-amid-virus-resurgence-1296178__;!!PhOWcWs!hdOIxwORONoclAsEH1ISgG6QxoEoVspcUTtmI0Ct25H_IuSrMNKgJRTp23kKsmZal8V4Sw$"><font color="#1155CC" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/06/30/desantis-kills-online-learning-program-amid-virus-resurgence-1296178</font></a><font color="#500050" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"> </font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font color="#500050" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">“The Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative, a virtual campus program that hosts online journals, e-books and other resources for schools across the state, would be defunded, as would the Complete Florida Degree Program that helps former college students return to school to complete their degree.</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">Library databases would go offline in the middle of the college summer semester, which is being held largely online as college campuses remain closed to students during the Covid-19 outbreak. The veto could force schools to come up with their own programs on the fly, putting them at risk of losing access to the “appropriate electronic resources” that are required by the state’s accreditation board.”</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">The veto eliminates ALL funding for FALSC – staff, integrated library system, databases and electronic resources, etc. – for the next fiscal year. This will drastically impact all state college and state university libraries, and would endanger these institutions’ ability to maintain SACS-COC accreditation. </font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">If this veto stands, FALSC may not survive, which would be devastating for Florida’s libraries. </font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">We urge you to contact your administration and </font><font color="#1155CC" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.flgov.com/email-the-governor/__;!!PhOWcWs!hdOIxwORONoclAsEH1ISgG6QxoEoVspcUTtmI0Ct25H_IuSrMNKgJRTp23kKsmbWhnGjKw$">Governor Ron DeSantis</a> </font><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">about the importance of restoring the Complete Florida Plus Program funding back into the budget.</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><br>
</font></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">If you would like to send an email on behalf of your students and institution to Governor DeSantis, please feel free to use </font></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#1155CC" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nFUx55W3kukRX0CvhSjJH6QyB3go6-7rxTCKIAwKkAo/edit?usp=sharing__;!!PhOWcWs!hdOIxwORONoclAsEH1ISgG6QxoEoVspcUTtmI0Ct25H_IuSrMNKgJRTp23kKsmZgZEHTNw$">this letter template</a> </font></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">as a starting point. </font></span></div>
<br>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">Email: </font><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com"><font color="#1155CC" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com</font></a></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><font face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">Twitter: </font><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">@GovRonDeSantis</font></span></div>
<div style="line-height:22px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#222222" face="Arial" style="font-size:15px;">Phone: 850-717-9337</font></span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
Sent on behalf of the FACRL Board of Directors
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div class="envelope" align="left" style="float: none;"><img src="cid:Ho7gOLPgk0ZO3cXsSbxC" width="275" id="TIE.7428550" style="margin: 5px; vertical-align: middle;" alt="FACRL logo.jpg" class="AOLInlineImage" title="FACRL logo.jpg"></div>
<div></div>
</div>
<div><br>
<div style="clear:both;">
<div style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;">
<div style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><font style="" size="2">Guy Cicinelli, MLIS</font></span></div>
<div style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family:Georgia, New Times, serif;"><font size="2">Library Technology Manager </font></span></div>
<div style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family:Georgia, New Times, serif;"><font size="2">Lee County Library System</font></span></div>
<div style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family:Georgia, New Times, serif;"><font size="2">mobile: 239-777-2827</font></span></div>
<div style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><font style="" size="2">email: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:gcicinelli@aol.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:gcicinelli@aol.com" style="text-decoration-line:underline;color:blue;">gcicinelli@aol.com</a></font></span></div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>