Philadelphia Libraries Remain Open, But Staff Cuts Mean Fewer Days

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 01/06/2009

• Judge says City Council must decide on budget
• Short-staffed libraries begin closing
• Libraries represent Mayor's most controversial cuts

While Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Idee Fox yesterday affirmed in writing her order stopping Mayor Michael Nutter from closing 11 of 54 library branches without City Council approval, the Free Library of Philadelphia has begun to suffer ad hoc closings, with its decimated staff apparently too few to keep branches open. Four branches were closed yesterday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and FLP director Siobhan Reardon indicated in an email that 20 libraries may close on an emergency basis this week.

(Photo from Coalition to Save the Libraries.)

Libraries were kept open last Friday and Saturday only "through the use of overtime," according to Reardon. Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver told the newspaper that the FLP may comply with the judge's order by offering only three-day service, a tactic the library already had rejected, Reardon wrote on the library's web site, because it would not ensure quality service.

The key factor in deciding which branches to close under the Mayor's plan, she wrote, was that no patron would have to travel more than two miles; three new bookmobiles were to be deployed. (Map) "Every library in the city will have reduced days of service," Nutter told Fox News regarding the judge's decision. "It will impact all of the users in a citywide fashion and it is potentially a mess and I did not want that to happen.”
 
Furious public response
However, his own plan drew a furious public response, one apparently reflected in Fox’s written ruling: "The decision to close these 11 branch libraries is more than a response to a financial crisis; it changes the very foundation of our city….Our library system is more than a century old, yet in three short months an economic crisis results in permanently closing 11 branches."

In an editorial, the Philadelphia Daily News suggested that, “A teachable moment about libraries and neighborhoods appears to have come and gone within - well, a moment,” observing that branch libraries shouldn’t be judged simply by attendance and circulation, given the importance of  libraries as meeting places.

The Inquirer editorialized that the library closing plan brought Nutter “the most heat” of all his budget-cutting efforts. “He has himself to blame for some of the enmity,” the newspaper opined. “He didn't take the time to involve the community before announcing he would close libraries. And he seemed not to recognize the political opportunity he was providing others by appearing to unilaterally make the libraries decision.”

Inquirer columnist Karen Heller, however, defended Nutter, suggesting that supporters of libraries and other programs were “practicing budget NIMBY,” unwilling to accept their share of still-growing deficits. And while she agreed he could have handled the process better, she thinks things will get worse.