Grassroots advocates in Boston were thrilled to learn June 21 that library officials were indefinitely postponing the closure of four branches that had been planned for months. The news came as hundreds of library workers at the Charlotte (N.C.) Mecklenburg Library and Los Angeles Public Library were coming to grips with layoff notices.
“We’ve been listening to the community and we understand the desire for more planning time,” Boston Public Library President Amy E. Ryan told an emotional crowd June 21 at a special board meeting called to announce that officials had changed their minds for the time being about closing four BPL facilities. Although Ryan emphasized that no dates had been set for the closings, the online news source Universal Hub reported June 21 that three of the four were originally slated to close at the end of the summer.
However, administrators still planned to eliminate 68 positions at BPL’s Central Library as of October 1.
According to Citywide Friends of the Library President David Vieira, trustees said the postponement would give officials time to strategize with community members about how best to repurpose the branch buildings and “to talk to the community about which services are important to them” so they can make those resources available elsewhere. “It’s a dispersal of services from one location to several alternate service points, but alternate service points do not a library make,” Vieira told American Libraries, adding “I’m looking at this as hitting the reset button, and we’ll start the community process all over again.”
Some state legislators seem to feel the same way: An amendment to the state budget bill requires that BPL keep all its branches open or forfeit all $2.4 million it is slated to receive in state aid (National Public Radio’s WBUR-Boston podcast, 12:33).
Charlotte, Los Angeles regroup
With the same spirit demonstrated by Boston’s library lovers, campaigns to stave cuts and/or reinstate services and jobs plowed ahead across the country despite what appeared to be irreversible decisions.
As Charlotte Mecklenburg Library officials warned repeatedly while seeking to plug a nearly $18 million crater in the FY2011 library budget, decision makers shuttered three of the system’s 24 branches indefinitely June 19 and closed a fourth until previously funded renovations are completed early next year. However, because an additional $5.6 million was added to the budget ($3.5 million from Mecklenburg County and one-time contributions of $1.4 million from Charlotte and a total of some $730,000 from five other service-area municipalities), the library was able to limit layoffs to 66 staff members instead of the 214 who were provisionally pink-slipped this spring.
The loss (PDF file, page 8) of 328 FTE library positions in Los Angeles was quite a blow to supporters who, in the past few months, had organized read-ins around the city—including on the lawn of the mayoral residence—numerous rallies, and petitions and letters to municipal officials. Nonetheless, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood by his austere budget proposals, which called for the dismissal of more than 700 city workers overall as part of an effort to save $350 million for FY2011, and the city council approved the budget June 11. The library lost $8.7 million.
LAPL spokesperson Peter Persic said that, of the library positions eliminated permanently, some 94 had been vacant and 107 were occupied by staff members who accepted an early retirement package, leaving some 150 library workers who were laid off with two weeks’ pay effective June 18. Additionally, all 73 libraries will be open five days a week instead of six, with staggered Monday–Friday and Tuesday–Saturday scheduling to approximate six-day-a-week service throughout the city. Persic told AL that City Librarian Martín Gómez decided to “shrink everything” rather than eliminate service altogether in some neighborhoods. He went on to explain that L.A.’s chief administrative officer has projected a $1-billion municipal deficit for FY2014.
Grassroots advocates have yet to give up the fight for full service, however. The Librarians’ Guild, which is a chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Workers, scheduled an emergency strategy session for June 23. A few city council members also appear to be rallying round LAPL: According to the June 22 Los Angeles Daily News, the Arts, Parks, Health, and Aging Committee favors placing a $39 library parcel tax measure on Los Angeles County’s November election ballot. Should the full council approve the initiative, two-thirds of voters would have to okay the tax, which would generate $30 million annually.