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Library Hours in Jeopardy!

By on July 25th, 2008

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.

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DC Public Library Sunday Closings

By on November 7th, 2007

Due to anticipated staff shortages some libraries will be closed on Sundays

The DC Public Library is anticipating a shortage of staff to adequately provide Sunday hours at all of our branch libraries during the traditional holiday period. To assure that our patrons have access to library services throughout the city during this period we are instituting Sunday library closings at some of our branches.
Sunday service will be maintained at:

  1. Anacostia
  2. Benning
  3. Cleveland Park
  4. Lamond Riggs
  5. Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Library
  6. Mt. Pleasant
  7. Southeast
  8. Takoma Park
  9. Tenley
  10. Washington Highlands
  11. Watha T. Daniel / Shaw
  12. West End

from 1pm to 5 pm. In making this decision, the Library chose neighborhood branches that have good access to public transportation, the highest level of use, the most public access computers, regular use by school children and geography.

Community and Library sponsored programs already scheduled for Sundays will be held. The Neighborhood Library will open for those events. Residents looking for a particular program should check with the Branch Library.

Why is DCPL temporarily suspending Sunday service at some neighborhood libraries?

DC Public Library strives to operate the public library in a manner that is reliable and equitable. Our goal is to provide the best possible service to those who live in the District. We have assessed our staffing capacity over the holiday period. Like other agencies, DCPL has staff with holiday leave plans and “use or lose” leave. Unlike most agencies, DCPL is open to serve the public on Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, we are expecting a significant number of retirements by year’s end. Union staffs who work on Sunday must be volunteers.

There will not be enough staff to be open for Sunday library services at all branch libraries. Past practice at DCPL has been to post a note on the front door if there is not enough staff to open. We don’t want library users to find that their library is closed when they come expecting it to be open. For this reason, we choose to be proactive by identifying the libraries that would be closed on Sundays until the end of January. If we find we have enough staff, we will resume Sunday library service sooner.

Eleven neighborhood libraries and MLK will remain open on Sundays. We chose those to remain open based on the following criteria:

  1. best access to Metro and / or frequent bus service
  2. the most public access computers
  3. used by the most school students
  4. located throughout the District

Can volunteers help keep libraries open on Sundays through December and January?

We welcome and rely on volunteers throughout the library! Nonetheless, I do not think this will solve our temporary problem for two reasons:

  1. We just do not have the time to train volunteers to work at neighborhood libraries While it may appear straightforward, the work is quite complex, whether knowing circulation policies and procedures or the variety of print and online resources in reference. The technology employed in our libraries requires expertise and knowledge of specialized library computer systems.
  2. Our union agreement says that volunteers can be used to supplement but not to replace library staff.

Those who are interesting in volunteering at DCPL should contact Bill Turner at (202) 727-4968 to learn of the opportunities available.

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Upcoming Events

By on September 5th, 2007

DC Builds: Buildings for Books
Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
National Building Museum , 401 F Street, NW

What does it take to design libraries that inspire? The DC Public Library this question in its current development of several branch libraries across the city. Ginnie Cooper, DC Public Library chief librarian, will lead a panel discussion with chief librarians from San Jose , California and Seattle , Washington ; two cities that recently completed a wide ranging effort to build branch libraries in their communities. The panel will include Ray Johnston of Johnston Architects in Seattle and Pamela Anderson-Brulé of Anderson Brulé Architects in San Jose who will share their design for libraries in their respective cities, as well as lessons learned.

$12 Museum members and students; $20 nonmembers. Prepaid registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability.
To register: https://s21.2coolweb.com/nbm/signup.asp

Food for Thought: Shop at Whole Foods Markets and benefit your library
3 Whole Foods Market stores will contribute 5% of an entire day’s sales to enhance the Children’s Rooms in 5 Interim Branches: Anacostia, Benning, Georgetown , Watha T. Daniel-Shaw, and Tenley-Friendship.

On October 4, 2007 proceeds from the P Street Store ( 1440 P Street, NW ) will be donated; on October 11, 2007 proceeds from the Georgetown Store ( 2323 Wisconsin Ave, NW ) will be donated; and on October 18 proceeds from the Tenley Store ( 4530 40th Street NW ) will be donated.

Proceeds will go to the DC Public Library Foundation,a 501( c)3 nonprofit organization working to provide goods and services not otherwise available to the DC Public Library System.