Despite the rampant budget deficits facing municipal and state government all over Illinois, the Chicago Public Library has been allocated a 2011 budget that calls for no reductions.
Ruth Lednicer, CPL director of marketing, contacted American Libraries November 29 “to let you know how happy we are to report that the Chicago city council’s 2011 budget leaves Chicago Public Library’s funding with no change from 2010.”
Lednicer said the library’s operating budget for 2011 will be $96,597,297. “I know what a refreshing change this is from what so many libraries are reporting these days," she noted, “and we credit Mayor [Richard M.] Daley and our city council members for truly appreciating the role CPL plays in every neighborhood of our city.”
The mayor, who announced in September that he would not seek reelection when his sixth term expires in 2011, attended the library’s 17th Annual Bookamania event November 10, noting that “reading and the love of books is the foundation of a quality education. Especially for our children, it’s vital to introduce them to the literary world at a young age. Reading with your child and showing them the joy to be found in books will set them on a successful path to reading and lifelong learning,” said Daley.
The budget supports the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago and 73 neighborhood locations. Since 1989, the library has experienced unprecedented growth, opening 52 new or renovated neighborhood libraries, although like public library systems nationwide, it has endured recessionary woes: In mid-July 2009, 120 library pages were laid off after their union refused to make furlough concessions being asked. Beginning January 2, hours at neighborhood branches were reduced from 64 per week to 48.
Earlier this year, CPL Commissioner Mary Dempsey responded harshly to a Fox Chicago news story that posed a loaded question in its title: “Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste of Tax Money?”
Public libraries are more relevant and heavily used today than ever before, and public libraries are one of the better uses of the taxpayers’ dollars. Let me speak about the Chicago Public Library, which serves 12 million visitors per year. No other cultural, educational, entertainment, or athletic organization in Chicago can make that claim. Those 12 million visitors come to our libraries for free access to books, journals, research materials, online information and computers, reference assistance from trained librarians, early literacy programs, English-as-a-second-language assistance, job search assistance, after school homework help from librarians and certified teachers, best sellers in multiple formats (print, audio, downloadable, and e-book), movies, music, author events, book clubs, story times, summer reading programs, financial literacy programs, or simply a place to learn, dream, and reflect.
Dempsey also pointed out that “the Chicago Public Library, through its 74 locations, serves every neighborhood of our city, is open seven days per week at its three largest locations, six days per week at 71 branch libraries, and 24/7 on its website, which is filled with online research collections, downloadable content, reference help, and access to vast arrays of the Library’s holdings and information.”
