Library budget cuts put book borrowing at risk
WAREHAM - At a time when libraries are more popular than ever, residents in cities and towns across Massachusetts risk losing many of their borrowing rights as communities consider cutting library budgets below minimum levels set by the state.
That would jeopardize their certification with the Board of Library Commissioners, triggering a double penalty: They would no longer be eligible for the state grants that round out local library budgets, and their residents would be deprived of the ability to borrow from most other public libraries.
Last month, the board stripped certification from four towns, the most rejected in one year for inadequate funding since the recession of the early 1990s. Those four communities - Freetown, Hubbardston, Norton, and Wareham - were penalized for cuts they had made over the past year, before cities and towns across the state were reeling financially as a result of the recession.
In the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, dozens more communities could fail to meet the minimum standards for library spending and operating hours needed for automatic recertification.
One of the cities could be Brockton, which must close a $2.5 million deficit by June 30 and faces a projected $28 million gap next year. Officials project hundreds of layoffs that could hit all city departments, though the library may suffer disproportionately.
"I would be more comfortable cutting the library to save public safety than cutting public safety to save the library," said Mayor James E. Harrington. "We're making the best of all bad choices."
Residents in newly penalized towns already feel left out.
"I am furious," said Susan Pollard, a Wareham resident who tried to reserve a book online from neighboring Rochester last week but was rejected.
After getting laid off from a corporate job a few weeks ago, Pollard, 55, an Army veteran, joined a book club to stay busy and meet people. But Wareham did not own her book club's selection, the Colonial thriller "Bound," and others would not lend to Pollard because her hometown had cut its library budget almost in half, by nearly $300,000 over the past year.
It was another example of the effects of the economic crisis, and the resulting strain on public budgets and everyday lives.
Libraries are losing funding even as demand grows. In a weakened economy, people are turning to libraries not only for books, but for movies and music, programs for adults and children, museum passes, and online access. With more people unemployed or dropping home Internet service to save money, a growing number rely on the library to check e-mail, prepare resumes, fill out government forms, finish homework, and search for jobs.
Loss of certification hurts now more than ever. Rather than kill libraries, the Internet has linked them and enhanced their popularity.
Interlibrary loans are especially popular, as people who once needed to thumb through card catalogs or call distant libraries can instantly view regional and state holdings, then click to have materials delivered to their local library, as Pollard tried. In fiscal 2008, about 5.4 million books, movies, and recordings moved among Massachusetts public libraries - over 20 times as many as in 1991.
All but three of the state's 351 cities and towns maintain libraries. To be certified, communities must meet multiple standards, including a requirement that they increase library budgets each year by 2.5 percent, compared with the average spent in the three previous years.
With four towns added to the decertified list, 14 out of 348 local library systems lack certification. Officials in those communities call the requirements impractical in difficult times. At a meeting last month, Freetown's selectmen said the decision was "abominable" and vowed to "knock on doors" on Beacon Hill to overturn it, according to a local newspaper account.
Many more municipalities could be in a similar position next year, their finances hampered by a recession that has battered local revenues and state tax collections. As a result, Governor Deval Patrick has slashed pledged aid to cities and towns by $128 million this year and could deepen the cut to as much as $375 million in fiscal 2010.
Given the many financial blows, the Massachusetts Municipal Association has called for lawmakers to relax the certification requirements enforced by the Board of Library Commissioners.
Robert C. Maier, director of the state library board, said the board understands local budget pressures, but standards must stay in place to avoid gutting libraries, which make up less than 2 percent of most local budgets.
The library is "not a frill," Maier said. "It's an essential service that people need, just as much as they need services from the department of public works, from the fire department, from the police department, from the schools."
When cities and towns must cut libraries, though, the state board will grant waivers to preserve their certification - as long as that community can demonstrate that the library budget has not been singled out for unusually deep cuts. This year, the board granted 22 of 26 requests, rejecting only those towns that stripped library funding disproportionately to other departments.
Even in communities where budgets have been sheared and hours reduced, patrons and employees called their libraries a place of refuge in turbulent times. In Wareham, one mother said the library is the only place she can take her children without feeling anxious about spending money, said Marcia Hickey, the town's youth librarian.
In Brockton, as in many communities, library computers are almost always busy.
Not long ago, Brockton's libraries served residents seven days a week, with a main library, four branches, and a book mobile. The mobile and two branches are gone; the remaining branches are open 12 hours a week. The flagship - where a Depression-era mural proclaims: "The Public Library. The People's University" - is closed Sundays.
Brockton has maintained certification by demonstrating that library cuts were not out of line with those to other departments. But the current deficit means many more cuts are needed; this time the library could suffer disproportionately.
"We're holding our breath," said Harry R. Williams III , library director.
In Wareham, acting director Susan Pizzolato encouraged people to visit, despite reduced hours and borrowing privileges.
"We still want to emphasize to people, come in, and we'll work really hard," Pizzolato said, on a tour last week. 