Federation of Friends

The DC Council included $3.3 million in cuts to the DC Public Library System in its recent actions to address a $130 million anticipated budget deficit for FY2009 and to create a reserve fund should the deficit be even greater than predicted. At this time, we do not know how these cuts will impact library hours or planned improvements to library facilities, collections and technology. The $2.04 million promised to restore library positions may also be affected by the cut and reserve fund creation as those funds have still not been transferred to the Library.

We should have more information about the impact of these cuts by the end of this week and this will surely be addressed at the next Board of Library Trustees meeting scheduled for 6:00 pm, Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at the Lamond Riggs Library, 5401 South Dakota Ave, NE.

Washington, DC-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Librarian for the DC Public Libraries (DCPL), Ginnie Cooper, announced today that funding has been identified to maintain library branch hours for Fiscal Year 2009.

“Public libraries serve as a resource, gathering place and anchor in our communities,” said Fenty. “Residents can rest assured that they can continue to access all of DC Public Library’s resources seven days a week next year.”

The Mayor located funds after DCPL reported that its budget for FY 2009 would require libraries to close one day a week in order to stay within budget. The approximately $2 million needed to keep DCPL open seven days a week will come from debt service savings.

“We were delighted to see how swiftly the Mayor responded to the need for additional funding,” said Cooper. “This funding will allow library staffing levels to remain the same next fiscal year. This funding means that these libraries will be remain open seven days a week next fiscal year.”

In addition to traditional library resources such as books, DCPL has internet access, literacy programs for adults and serves as a meeting place for community groups. DCPL is the first public library in the country to provide books on tape that are iPod and MP3 compatible. For more information on library hours, services and locations visit www.dclibrary.org.

At the Board of Library Trustees meeting Wednesday night, July 23, 2008, Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper presented a grim picture of the FY2009 Library Budget and staffing plan. While the Library Budget will go up slightly (by $16,000), that budget includes $5.6 million in earmarked enhancements and the elimination of 74 library positions. This is a 14% reduction in the staffing for DC Public Libraries. The DC Public Library needs $2 million by October 1, 2008 or the Library will be forced to drastically cut the hours of operation of all our libraries.

Mrs. Cooper laid out the changes to the Board and the community. They include closing all Libraries on Fridays, reducing basic operating hours to 10:00 am - 6:00 pm at all branch libraries and opening 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm on days when libraries are open in the evening. Regular hours at the MLKJr Library would also change to 10:00 am - 8:00 pm. All libraries would remain open on Sundays during the school year but would all be closed on Sundays during the summer months.

There are a number of impacts that these changes would create: community groups would have difficulty holding meetings that must end by 8:00 pm; daycares and caregivers would have difficulty using their libraries in the mornings when they open later or not until noon; seniors will not have an opportunity to use the library consistently in the mornings; working families would have reeduced access to the library during the summers and commuters will find it difficult to get to their branches by 8:00 pm on the nights their library branches are open.

The Library System needs your help to appeal to the District Council to find the $2 million that will avoid this calamity. A number of things converged to create this problem and a number of promises have been broken along the way by the Council and the Administration. Our communities should not have to suffer the mistakes of our leaders.

Please, write to your councilmember today. Share this message in your community, and let’s make sure our libraries remain open and available to everyone in our community.