From the Detroit News, "The Home Newspaper":

April 15. 2011 1:07PM Detroit library could close most of its branches

$11M shortfall may mean closing 12-18 sites for city's public gem

Christine MacDonald and RoNeisha Mullen / The Detroit News

Detroit —The Detroit Public Library could close most of its neighborhood branches and lay off more than half of its workers because of an $11 million shortfall caused by plunging tax collections.

One month after laying off 80 workers, library administrators said deeper cuts are needed and outlined three options: Shut 18 of 23 branches and lay off 191 of the remaining 333 workers; 15 branches and 163 workers; or 12 branches and 135 workers.

Whatever course commissioners who oversee the system choose in May, residents in an economically challenged city with a functional illiteracy rate of 47 percent are likely to suffer.

"We are really running out of options to maintain the viability of the system," said Anthony Adams, a library commissioner. "I don't see too many ways to avoid not doing something draconian. Every day we don't act is a day we are digging a deeper hole for ourselves."

The proposed cuts are the latest casualty for a city struggling with plunging property values and population. Largely funded through a 4.63-mill property tax, the system faces a revenue shortfall of 20 percent per year until at least 2015, administrators estimate. The tax that generated $40 million in 2010 is expected to produce only $14 million by 2015.

The list of targeted branches stretches throughout the city and could force residents to drive several miles to one. The most severe option leaves the entire northeast side of Detroit without a branch. And that's outraged users who have been flocking to the system in part because of the economy. Visits rose 20 percent since 2007 to 4.9 million a year.

"It's a tragedy. It's a great sin that should be made a crime," said Shirley Beaupre, 83. "The library has to be put in our priorities."

She was at the Skillman library downtown Wednesday, where nearly all computers were in use and residents were stunned that the branch is on the closure list. Lee Ray, 57, said he visits three to four times a week and understands budget cuts, but calls the proposal "extreme."

"There's really no other public place for people to go," Ray said.

The plan shocked Karen Love, an original board member of the Detroit Literacy Coalition.


"A city the size of Detroit? We are trying to convince people to come back to the city," she said. "Why would they come? Come on. It's a sad day in the city."

System under scrutiny

The closure list is a work in progress, officials said, because administrators selected branches for closure based on cost savings. The Detroit Library Commission is expected to scrutinize usage and demographics to fine-tune the list. Commissioners are set to discuss the plan Tuesday, and a public hearing would precede any vote.

"We recognize we have difficult choices to make," said executive director Jo Anne Mondowney. "But the library has been here for citizens and will continue to stay."
The proposal comes as spending in the system has come under scrutiny. Union leaders wonder how the situation has grown so dire, since administrators gave unions a 6 percent raise over the past two years. Union officials also criticize a decision to use nearly $10 million in operations funds for construction projects in the past few years.

Other initiatives have come into question. In February, The Detroit News reported that the system set aside $200,000 for a fundraising campaign that was supposed to raise $20 million but instead collected $100.

Adams blamed some of the cuts on unions that he said haven't accepted concessions.

"They have not come back with anything," Adams said.

But Todd Kelly, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1259, said the library staff hasn't asked for give-backs. He blasted the closure plan, noting administrators should have done better forecasting revenues.

"Essentially you are killing a library system," said Kelly, who represents 125 workers, including clerks, janitors and security staffers. "With the illiteracy rate we already have in Detroit, all it is going to do is heighten that."

Several options available

The library also is looking at several changes to boost revenue: banning users with more than $10 in fines from using computers; forbidding parents with outstanding fines from using their children's library cards; and instituting a $1 fee for DVDs, CDs and video game rentals.

Adams said the district has a rainy day fund of about $17 million, some of which may be tapped. But he cautioned against depleting the fund.

Edward Thomas, the commission president, said the library is looking at several options, including private partnerships to keep some locations open and intermediate shutdowns instead of all-out closures. Under all scenarios, the Main Library on Woodward will remain open.

"It is as shocking to me as it was to anybody else looking at it," Thomas said of the proposal. "I hope the public will be patient."

Dominique Boradus, who visited the Frederick Douglass branch near Corktown on Wednesday, was still worried.

"For a lot of people this is their only source of books and Internet," said Boradus, 23, who was there to use the Internet after a neighborhood power outage.

"Where are they supposed to go if the libraries are closed?"

cmacdonald@detnews.com
[[313) 222-2396

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110415/...#ixzz1JcLCtBfD

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That's a huge shame if so many branches really are to close. As was quoted, "how are we supposed to encourage people to come back to the city if we keep closing its cultural and neighborhood draws?" Just as sad to see the Skillman Branch downtown up for closure as it is any of the neighborhood branches. I think their ideas for revenue raising are good ones, however. Hopefully some funding somewhere can be found to help avert some of these closures. Also, I would hope that if there are any, they tie in well with Bing's Detroit Works Project, so branches aren't being closed in areas determined "viable," while others are left open in the areas where other city services may be reduced. We'll see.....