Summer was unusually quiet at the Braddock Carnegie Library.

For the last few years the library hosted a summer camp for 80 to 120 children, but this summer, children who walked through its doors weren't there for camp.

The after-school program also has taken a hit. Last year the library offered a drop-off place for 80 children that included dinner every afternoon. This year, specialized classes for children be offered only once a week.

The Braddock library is suffering from shrinking pains, but officials are cutting corners to keep it open even as the money runs short.

There are some things the library cannot do without.

"Light, heat and water" are the first answers given by Vicky Vargo, the library's interim director.

But even those are being looked at.

The air conditioning has been turned on only when the weather has been really scorching; otherwise workers and patrons have had to dress for the summer weather and rely on fans.

And in Vargo's office, the lights aren't on if the sun is out, including most cloudy days, to save on electricity.

The library also has reduced staff and hours. Hours have been cut from 54 a week to 45. Staffing was cut by reducing employees' hours.

It's what library officials have done since the beginning of the year, when board members realized they had to cut the annual operating budget in half to stay open through December.

The library, which is privately owned, would not release its budget figures for the year. When Executive Director Mary Becker was laid off in March, officials said the library was facing a $280,000 deficit.

Vargo said the cuts equaled half of last year's budget, but would not say what that was, only that $280,000 was not half of last year's budget.

In 2002, the Braddock's Field Historical Society, the library's owner, showed it had expenses of $751,593. But Vargo said that amount was much higher than the 2003 budget, which the board decided not to release.

Ray Henderson, president of the historical society's board of directors, said the budget gap has meant his organization must question every decision that goes into operating the library.

"Sometimes it's very hard to accept that we have to do things differently," Henderson said. But he added that some of the changes are more in line with the library's mission.

For instance, the specialized children's classes that will be offered to 80 youngsters will last two hours and will be designed to build reading skills and teach computer literacy and how to use a library. Arts and crafts will also be offered during some weeks.

The youngsters will be divided into age groups: first to third grade, fourth to sixth, seventh to ninth and 10th to 12th. Each of those groups will meet once a week and can have up to 20 students. The program will run from October through May.

Head librarian Patricia Serafini said the lessons will be geared to the age group rather than having older kids take part in younger children's story times, as had been done in the past. None of the programs will include meals for the children.

Other children's programs will be presented by Umoja African Arts Company, which will teach African drumming, tribal dance, African arts and storytelling.

Vargo said that the library didn't end summer programs when it dropped the summer camp. Instead, children attended summer reading programs rather than coming to the library all day every day.

"Our basic job is to provide literacy and education, anything we can do to help the public as far as educating and broadening their minds," Vargo said. "That's what we got away from."

Now, she said, the cuts have forced the library to "try to do one thing right."

The library is also trying to create programs to generate money.

A weight room recently opened on the third floor. After a 52-step climb up to the weight room, no Stairmaster is needed, but the room does sport a Universal weight machine with four stations, free weights, treadmills and stationary bikes.

The weight room is open to anyone with a $15 membership to the historical society. Monthly fee is $10.

The society is in the final stages of building a pottery studio where classes will be taught for a fee, Henderson said.

The library also has scheduled a fund-raising concert called Broadway in Braddock in its music hall, featuring a variety of acts. Admission will be $5.

Despite the library's success in keeping the doors open, Vargo said the year has been very difficult because of the cutbacks.

"If you want to survive, you have to do things that don't feel good," she said. "This has been a year of great pain."