Albany PL Focus on Branches Provokes Criticism, Support
-- Library Journal, 01/11/2007
The Albany Public Library, NY, has backed off a $65 million plan that emphasized main library improvements, but even the $29 million branch-centric revision has caused some controversy, with a local official criticizing the rationale for libraries and local citizens defending the library in return. The original plan was considered too costly; now the library would renovate its four branches and build a new one. The Albany-Times Union, which had expressed reservations about that original project, editorialized that "Albany residents should be encouraged by the library trustees' more practical vision for the city." For those with houses assessed at $150,000, library taxes would go up $50 a year, from $172 to $222. Citizens will vote on February 6.
In a letter to the Times-Union, Democratic committeeman Albert Paolucci criticized the new tax burden and suggested that alternatives exist: "The $29.1 million is just another encumbrance that will not make the libraries more available and efficient. Not when you have bookstores where you can sit and review books at leisure. The State Library is another outlet for those who need information. Every school has a library; would a student venture beyond that school library to seek information or books to read? I do not believe so. Computers have taken the place of the libraries with more information than you will ever need in a lifetime." In response, Thomas Preston, executive director of the Poor Peoples Campaign, commented that bookstores don't accommodate groups of youth nor offer meeting space and research assistance. "As a regular library user, I can tell you that many young people venture out of their school libraries into the public libraries. Neither the State Library nor bookstores can meet the literary needs of the community at large," he wrote. In another letter responding to Paolucci, local resident Peter Christoph noted, that, "people want neighborhood libraries...so their children can walk there, and most neighborhoods do not have bookstores. Bookstores are not lending libraries; you can't borrow a book for two weeks and then take it back."
