The Providence Public Library has served the city for over a century, but rising costs and the library's deficit may force the institution to cut services and staff. It is considering closing some of its nine branches and laying off workers to reduce costs, the Providence Journal reported Dec. 27.
Though the library is a private corporation, over half of its funding comes from the city and state. For the fiscal year beginning in July, the library is projecting a $1 million deficit, said Tonia Mason, director of marketing for the PPL.
Last year, the library received $3.3 million from the city - an increase of $300,000 from past years. The state provided an additional 25 percent of what the city provided, Mason said.
Though Rhode Island has been "very generous" in supporting the library, Mason said "the size of the system has outgrown the budget."
"The funding has not kept up with the annual increases in cost," she said.
The Library Reform Group, an advocacy organization of library patrons from across the city, is trying to prevent the branches from closing, said Patricia Raub, a professor of American studies at Providence College, who formed the group in 2004.
Raub said the group succeeded in getting the library corporation's board meetings open to the public. But it still wants more public representatives elected to the board. Currently, the board has only two public officials - one appointed by the governor and one by the mayor, she said.
In protesting library closures, Raub's group is joined by the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, which unionized almost 100 library employees in 2005, said Karen McAninch '74, the business agent for the union.
McAninch said many of the PPL's smaller branches are located in low-income neighborhoods that benefit from the libraries.
Currently, the reform group is pressuring the library to organize more fundraising events.
"We're not sure that there is a million dollar deficit," Raub said. "Our feeling is that the library hasn't done as much serious fundraising as it needs to do."
Though Raub said she recognizes the library's attempt to contact prospective donors on the phone and in person, she said the efforts have been "lackluster."
Raub, who called her group members "the cheerleaders for the library," said the library should also organize an annual fundraising event.
But Mason said the library has continued its traditional methods of fundraising for many years, even if they are "not visible."
The library focuses on cultivating relationships with and soliciting donations from its past donors, Mason said. Doing so raises more money than organizing "expensive" and "labor-intensive" fundraising events of the kind the reform group wants, she added.
Moreover, fundraising is neither a permanent way to get money for operating costs, nor a solution to the $1 million deficit, Mason said.
The library's goal is to cooperate with the city and the community to devise a "a sustainable library system," Mason said, "one that we can afford with the money we have."
A few weeks ago, the trustees resolved not to use the library's $35 million endowment to cover the deficit. But the trustees could consider using the endowment during a transitional period before the sustainable plan is put in place, Mason said.
"They won't take money out of the endowment to just plug the million-dollar hole every year," she said.
