Sen. Marti Calabretta's daughter, Rebecca Miller, visited the Statehouse on Monday and now the state library won't go a third year without any money to buy books or periodicals. At least that's how her mother tells it.

Miller is a senior editor with Library Journal in New York. When she visited an early-morning work session of the Legislature's joint budget committee, of which her mother is a member, she helped persuade lawmakers to invest in some books. A $40,000 appropriation was approved in the panel's meeting later that morning.

"Mom basically saw a gap .... and then she raised some questions," Miller said later. "We've seen state libraries across the country getting just nothing."

Lawmakers were somewhat surprised to learn that they'd cut off the state library from acquiring books for the past two years, and agreed to the small investment.

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