With looming budget cuts ahead, the Board of Library Commissioners is voting today on whether or not to reduce the Los Angeles libraries six day a week schedule to only five days to a week. Advocates for the proposal (PDF) are saying that a reduction in service hours is necessary to accommodate the reduction of workforce, which will be cut by 28 percent under the city's new fiscal-year budget.
The two biggest losses facing libraries involve a cutoff of statewide interlibrary loan deliveries and technology services, including online databases. The Glen Ridge Library stands to lose free hosting for its website, summer reading program materials and access to the Talking Book and Braille Center.
Last month, the library cut two full-time staff positions effective next month. It may also reduce its book-purchasing budget by nearly 25 percent.
Glen Ridge subscribes to JerseyClicks through a group discount it enjoys via membership in the Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS). The library estimates it would cost at least $25,000 to subscribe to JerseyClicks on its own.
The New York Public Library is one of many providers of free English classes in New York City. The Queens and Brooklyn Public Libraries offer them, as do the New York City Department of Education, the City University of New York, and various nonprofit community groups. Even so, the need for instruction in English still seems to outpace the supply.
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...Typically, many more people show up than there are spots available, and hundreds have to be turned away. (Spots are distributed by a lottery.)
Now, with the library facing a possible $37 million budget cut, even fewer people may be able to take classes next year. If the cuts go through, the library says that in addition to closing 10 branches and cutting service across the system to four days from six, it will have to cut the number of English language classes it offers from 117 to 48, and the number of spots from roughly 3,000 to less than 1,300. The Brooklyn and Queens library systems are facing similar financing cuts that threaten their English classes as well.
The immediate concern is that the Glynn County Board of Education will adopt its administrators' proposal to withhold $40,000 the school system gives to the library system annually in order to balance the schools' own budget for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1.
Library supporters who appeared Tuesday at a board of education meeting reminded school officials of the role libraries play in the lives of young and old alike.
A loss of $40,000 would threaten the ability of the Brunswick-Glynn County Library and St. Simons Island Library to operate, they said.
"We're really hoping (the board) will understand the value of the library in the community," Lori Lasson, manager of Glynn County libraries, said Wednesday. "We are such a bargain to the community and the quality of service that we offer. It ($40,000) makes a huge difference for us."
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