Memphis Council Stops PL Closings

Citing the importance of keeping neighborhood libraries open, the Memphis City Council has rebuffed Mayor Willie Herenton's plan to close five branches and build two larger regional branches. Council members, according to the Commercial Appeal, said the mayor's office had not consulted them about the plan to revamp the Memphis Public Library and Information Center (MPLIC).

The closings of the branches and four community centers was to save $2 million a year. Meanwhile, Herenton asked for $1 million for land to build two new libraries, but the council budget committee said no. Herenton's proposal relied on a March 16, 2007, citywide efficiency study, conducted by Deloitte Consulting, that recommended closings of those five libraries but suggested that resources from such shutdowns “be dedicated to regional branches or other library system needs.”

Council member Bill Brown sent a letter to constituents saying he toured all the branches slated for closure and talked to patrons and employees. “It is important to note that one of the aforementioned branches welcomed in excess of 100,000 visitors in 2007 and another is located in an area which will become increasingly more populated by young families in the immediate future,” he wrote. “I am opposed to closing all libraries with the exception of possibly one which is in an extremely deteriorated state, and I am pursuing an alternative location for it.”

Curtis White, head of Friends of the Poplar-White Station Branch Library, told the newspaper, “I think if you cut off the access to the computers in those neighborhoods, [residents] may not be able to go to another library.”