Furlough in Stark Cty., but Not Brown

Louisville PL gets budget; California libraries face crunch

By Susan DiMattia, Norman Oder, & Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 7/15/2004

Staffers of the Stark County District Library, Canton, OH, have begun taking a week's unpaid leave in an effort to help the facility get through a financial crunch. Director Kent Oliver told LJ that "for the last few years the library has been operating with a deficit budget using reserve funds in order to keep going. This year our budget is $9.7 million and our revenues are about $8.7, and we're using a combination of carryover from last year's operating and reserve fund to make up the difference."

Surprisingly, the union representing staff stepped forward with the furlough proposal. The leaves will be staggered so the library doesn't have to shut down for a week.

Over the objection of outgoing library director Pat LaViolette, the Brown County Education and Recreation Committee unanimously voted to close the Brown County Library (BCL), headquartered in Green Bay, WI, for one week in August. Later, however, library and county officials reached a last-minute compromise to find the needed $62,800, out of the $390,000 the library needed to cut. The library will use $15,000 from its remaining materials budget and find the additional $47,800 in positions left open.

Library board member Pat Collins said, "The political pressure even got to the top floor," referring to the county executive office. "The people wanted their library vibrant and top-notch."

After all 26 members of the Louisville Metro Council asked Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson to increase funding for the Louisville Free Public Library, KY, urging that money be emphasized for materials, Abramson agreed, proposing to meet all operating expenses, including $2 million for books plus funds for a new "digital media project."

Library director Craig Buthod told the Courier-Journal that his budget request did not include funding for the library's $160 million long-range facilities-improvement program, which features upgrading and enlarging the main library, three new regional libraries, and replacement, expansion, and renovation of many branches. Those projects may be funded by bonds or in future budgets.

With funding stagnant, the Sacramento Public Library Authority, CA, agreed to close the Central Library on Mondays as well as close an hour earlier three nights a week. "We had to look at reducing hours (at Central) to maintain services in the branches," library director Anne Marie Gold told the Sacramento Bee. To maintain the existing level of service at the Central Library the system would have needed an additional $700,000. The budget also cuts the system's materials budget by $800,000.

For the second straight year, the San Bernardino Public Library, CA, faces a nearly zero materials budget, owing to both state budget cuts and a failed library tax measure. According to the Press-Enterprise, the local Police Department is donating $25,000 that it receives from asset forfeiture.

The library also has asked the City Council for an additional $50,000 from the city's general fund. Last November, a library tax measure gained a majority of votes but not the required two-thirds approval.