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March is National Reading Month and public library directors in South Dakota hope to keep momentum on their side as they reach out to their communities.

Promising visitor numbers give them a sense of relief in what can be a challenging political climate.

Cara Perrion, director of the K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library, said in the past year they have seen a steady uptick in library card requests. The most recent American Library Association survey data show Gen Z and millennials are visiting their local libraries at higher rates than older generations.

Perrion pointed out the book selections are much more expansive for teens and young adults than they used to be.

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"It was either, like, Little House On The Prairie books or Harry Potter. There wasn't a lot in between," Perrion explained. "And now, there are many different types of genres."

But library systems have been swept up in "culture war" debates in recent years as special interest groups and right-leaning politicians push for book bans or more restrictive laws. Perrion noted as a library administrator, there is a lot of second-guessing and watching things closely with the broader scrutiny. She acknowledged her staff is fortunate to have a very supportive community in Aberdeen.

Angela Bailey, director of the Huron Public Library, said they are sponsoring a reading challenge between now and the end of April, encouraging local patrons to read 1,000 minutes each. So far, she observed, more than 60,000 minutes have been logged. Bailey added it reflects the value community members place on the library.

"We have a very healthy budget. Our community is very supportive of our library," Bailey explained. "We had great attendance last year. We had over 89,000 people come into the library."

Bailey stressed they are fortunate they do not have to lean on federal funding, unless it is a grant. Policy trackers said such grants are harder to come by under the Trump administration. And state and local governments around the country face rising operating costs for many different services, making it harder to avoid library funding cuts, which in turn has led to reduced hours and shrinking collections at some branches.