Four months after the takeover of the city's nine branch libraries by the Providence Community Library, the transition is progressing smoothly, according to Ann Robinson, the group's executive library director. The transition has "gone very well" and the PCL has received "very positive" public feedback, she said.
The PCL, a private nonprofit organization, formed earlier this year in response to a budget crisis that put the fate of five of the city's branch libraries in question. At the time, the city's main library and the nine branches were administered by the Providence Public Library, another private nonprofit.
"The endowment took some blows from the financial crisis," said William Simmons '60, chair of the Public Library's board of trustees and a professor of anthropology.
In the face of financial constraints, the Public Library's — which still administers the central library on Empire Street — proposed to continue its administration of the main library and four branches, while turning the five smaller branches over to other sources of funding.
"I think it would have been a great idea," Simmons said of the Public Library's plan to "create adoption-type links" between the five smaller branches and local universities in order to keep those branches operating.
But "working with the city was kind of like a dead-end street," Simmons said. "The city basically wanted control of the library system as a whole," and "became an adversary to the (PPL) for not spending its endowment," he said.
The office of Mayor David Cicilline '83 could not be reached for comment.
The PCL was given municipal and state funding to run all nine branch libraries — now renamed community libraries — and assumed control July 1. Less than 12 percent of the PCL's nearly $5 million budget must come from private sources, with the rest paid for publicly.
Though the administration of the city's libraries is now divided between two autonomous organizations, patrons may not notice much of a difference. "With either library card they can use any library in Rhode Island," thanks to the Ocean State Libraries consortium, Robinson said.
Behind the scenes, the transition has been more exciting.
"It's almost like a startup business," Robinson said. "We had no paper trail," and so had to create systems for statistical records and budgets from scratch, she said.
Robinson said she hopes Providence residents will take note of the PCL's efforts to increase community programming and involvement. She cited the creation of a manga and anime club and "Game Zone," an electronic gaming club at the Rochambeau Library, as examples.
The PCL has also called on local college students to get involved. Five Providence College students and four Johnson and Wales University students currently volunteer at community libraries. So far, no Brown students have volunteered, Robinson said.
The organization has showed early success garnering corporate sponsorship. Today at 3:30 at the Wanskuck Library there will be a dedication for a computer learning lab donated by GTECH, a multinational corporation based in Providence. The PCL's partnership with the company includes the donation of computer learning labs at two additional libraries and 13 computers for internal use.
When the PCL moves beyond the transition phase, it will "look long term — eventually — at what each neighborhood needs," and consider more substantial changes, Robinson said.
As for the the PPL, which has seen its responsibilities within Providence reduced from ten libraries to one, "We're now looking off in other directions" to provide more services on a statewide level, Simmons said.
