The Boston Public Library (BPL) faces the prospect of closing eight to 10 of its branch locations and cutting services because the state of Massachusetts and City of Boston are cutting funding for the library by as much as $3.6 million in fiscal year 2011.
Founded in 1848, the BPL is the nation's oldest publicly supported library. The library has two central locations in Boston, a public loan library and a research library, and consists of 26 branch locations dispersed throughout different Boston neighborhoods, according to director of the Tisch Library Jo-Ann Michalak.
The city of Boston in the 2010 fiscal year provided 72.2 percent of the BPL's funding while the state of Massachusetts accounted for 9.8 percent of its annual funding.
According to the BPL's operating budget overview released to the public, the state's contribution in fiscal year 2011 is estimated to decline by 40 percent or $1.6 million, while the city's contribution is expected to see a one percent drop, amounting to $300,000.
These estimates led to a total revenue prediction of $38.7 million, which would fall short of the predicted $42.2 million maintenance budget.
In response to this, the library's Board of Trustees on Feb. 17 held a meeting to discuss budget options to ensure that in the upcoming year the maintenance budget can match available finances. All discussions at the meeting were strictly preliminary, according to Gina Perille, the communications manager at the BPL.
The closure of approximately a third of the BPL network is one of the options being considered to counteract the expected funding reductions.
The Board of Trustees is also considering whether slashing hours and operating days at each branch, perhaps down to only three days per week, would be preferable in terms of continuing to serve the communities that use the libraries as resources.
"Now that [BPL] President [Amy] Ryan has direction from the Board in terms of continuing to examine options, focusing on criteria on the consolidation of service points is a high priority for the Boston Public Library," Perille said in an e-mail to the Daily.
Other options under review by the Board of Trustees to manage the bleak budget outlook for the coming year include cutting back on a number library services.
"The preliminary funding numbers indicate that the BPL may have to reduce — but not altogether eliminate — state-funded services such as interlibrary loan, reference and research services and the procurement of electronic databases," she said.
Perille stressed that all options are being closely studied, and the board on March 9 will deliver a further report.
BPL is part of the Boston Library Consortium, of which Tufts' libraries are also members. These potential service cut-backs would also have an impact on partner libraries like Tufts.
"I know that they are also reviewing whether or not they can continue to be part of the Boston Library Consortium," Michalak said. "[Tisch Library depends] on some of their resources for interlibrary loan requests. We spoke to them to try to convince them to remain in the consortium, but we understand they have a lot to deal with."
Susan McAlister, president of the Massachusetts Library Association Board of Directors, said that the financial predicament the BPL finds itself in is one that libraries nationwide are increasingly having to deal with.
"Boston's facing what libraries across the state and across the country are facing: a terrible lack of funding," McAlister told the Daily.
In Massachusetts alone, at least 100 libraries applied to be considered for a grant from a state-aid program, according to McAlister. She predicts, however, that very few of these applicants will receive any help due to economic circumstances
"The state is in a pretty traumatic state itself," McAlister said. "Library funding in general seems to get cut more than other public funding."
McAlister explained that overall library financial support in Massachusetts has remained largely stagnant over the course of the past decade and a half.
"For fiscal year 2011, funding for the Board of Library Commissioners in Massachusetts will be at 1994 levels," she said. "Libraries have really taken a big hit."
Michalak expressed her concern not only about the possible impact of BPL's withdrawal from the consortium, but also about this cross-country trend of deepening disregard for the importance of libraries to communities.
"These are community centers that they might be closing, and I'd hate to see that happen," she said. "A library is not just a research center, but a place where people can come to interact. The more they have to close community centers, the more it diminishes the role the library has to play."
Another consequence of this decline in funding is a reduction in employee positions across the BPL system, an option that, according to the board of trustees' budget overview, appears to be inevitable.
This has prompted the BPL to ensure that its decision-making process is kept entirely transparent to the public and involves the workers' unions whenever appropriate.
"Members of the unions and all members of the BPL staff are important partners in this ongoing budget planning process," Perille said. "Some of the proposed options from the February 17 Board of Trustee[s] meeting would require bargaining over the impact of changes."
McAlister said that from the perspective of someone who dedicates her time to servicing libraries, she sympathizes with the budgetary woes that the BPL must overcome and the potential effects on the whole library community.
Nevertheless, she expressed her hope that cutbacks to library services will not lead the public to lose sight of the valuable role that libraries play.
"A lot of people say, ‘Oh, who needs libraries anymore?'" McAlister said. "But it's the librarians who provide you with resources and skills, and essential services for information literacy … Just because you have the Internet doesn't mean you don't need libraries."
