Camden Mayor Dana Redd said Monday that city officials will look to join the county library system and allow patrons to check out books from the library at Rutgers University's Camden campus.
The City Council must approve joining the county system, and there is no guarantee that in doing so the libraries will remain open. There is also no guarantee that the 21 city library employees will keep their jobs.
The library board said it would close the libraries by the end of the year because of a nearly 70 percent cut in library funding this year.
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Budget cuts across the country have caused local officials to close library branches, reduce hours and spend less money on books, computers and other materials.
The library received $935,000 from the city and $88,000 from the state last year. This year, the library asked the city for $823,000 , a 12 percent reduction. But the mayor offered only $281,666, which was too little to qualify for any state assistance, according library board member and activist Frank Fulbrook.
Redd insisted on Monday that she never intended for the libraries to be shuttered.
"I cannot make this any clearer: Never has it been the intention of my administration ... to close any of Camden's libraries," Redd said.
The Camden libraries, which had been preparing to permanently close, will be saved and could become a part of the county library system, officials said Sunday.
Details of the plan to save one or more of the three branches were not released and will be announced Monday at an 11 a.m. news conference, according to a statement from Camden Mayor Dana Redd.
In a separate statement, Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said it is a priority of the freeholder board to keep a library in Camden, so the county is working with the city "to put together a plan" so "if the city wants to become a part of the county system, it would be possible for them to do so."
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