Five of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches slated for closure by February may get a reprieve if a plan to provide $1.2 million in short-term funding can be agreed upon, city and library officials said yesterday.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, joined by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh President and Director Barbara Mistick, told a crowd of about 250 people gathered at St. Mary's Lower Lyceum in Lawrenceville that they'd had a "productive" meeting Friday to discuss the financial crisis.

"We're not going to give a dime of city money [to the libraries] if it doesn't translate to keeping those libraries open," Mr. Ravenstahl said, adding he also planned to "roll up his sleeves" to find long-term, sustainable funding of the city's 19 branches.

"It's a complex decision with a lot of moving parts," added Dr. Mistick. "If we can work together and find the dollars, the [library] board will consider it."

The mayor had called for a public meeting -- and an investigation into the library's finances -- after library officials announced Oct. 7 they were closing the Lawrenceville, Hazelwood, Beechview and West End branches and merging the Carrick and Knoxville branches. Yesterday, though, the two sides appeared to have reached a truce of sorts.

"The mayor has been wonderful to embrace us in this process," said Dr. Mistick, seated next to Mr. Ravenstahl, noting that the decision to close the library branches was a "gut-wrenching experience."

Dr. Mistick told the audience that $14 million -- up from the $6 million shortfall the library system originally projected in June -- was needed to address its predicted five-year deficit and deeper financial woes.

"Our hands are tied in many ways because of the way money comes to us," she said, noting that 70 percent of the library's funding comes from the Allegheny Regional Asset District board. It also receives money from the state, which instituted a 20 percent cut in overall spending on libraries this year. The state reached a budget agreement after the library announced the cuts.

When a member of the audience asked why Terry Wolfe, the mayor's representative on the library's board of trustees, had voted for the closings, Mr. Ravenstahl said he hadn't talked with her beforehand.

"He didn't try to influence my decision," Ms. Wolfe added.

Toting signs that read, "Save Our Libraries" and "Livable Cities Keep their Libraries Open," about 100 people stood patiently in line for more than two hours to speak -- a diverse and well-behaved crowd, if occasionally emotional.

"Angry? Damn right I'm angry," said Noreen Beatty, of Oakwood. "The rich will have their library in Squirrel Hill while the poor in Hazelwood and Beechview will pay the price."

Speakers included retired schoolteachers, shop clerks, graduate students in philosophy and neurological science, even a parade of young mothers with babies in strollers and toddlers in tow -- who held their children up to the microphone to lisp, "Save my library."

A recurring theme: if leaders could find money to fund casinos, stadiums and the Group of 20 summit, surely they could find money for libraries.

"These people here are not the ones who can afford to go to a stadium," said Jim McCue of Hazelwood.

"I just moved here last Thursday from New York," added Gillian Lerner, who said she and her husband, both retired, bought their home in Lawrenceville because it was two blocks from the library. "We use libraries like crazy and this sends a bad signal."

"Livable cities need oxygen sources for their neighborhoods, and when you close libraries, you are killing those neighborhoods," added Tess McShane, of Point Breeze.

State Rep. Chelsa Wagner, D-Beechview, angrily denounced library officials for what she called a lack of transparency.

"Citizens were completely shut out of the process," she told Dr. Mistick, contending that other state agencies suffering the same level of cuts have managed to find ways to tighten their belts. "It's great you're here today, but it's absolutely an afterthought."

Several speakers used the occasion to berate the mayor for heavy-handed police tactics at last month's G-20 summit, noting that money that was used to suppress protests could just as easily be used to help the libraries.

"A month ago it was all about the Pittsburgh success story," said Chris Nelms, of Bloomfield. The city found money, he said, "to suspend First Amendment rights during the G-20 and expose children to OC gas."

But city leaders didn't take the world leaders on tours of Hazelwood or other neighborhoods losing their libraries. "Whose idea of success is that, Mr. Mayor?"

Perhaps the most compelling pleas came from residents of Hazelwood, hard hit in recent years by closings of its public school and community swimming pool. Patience Karan, 11, informed the crowd that she went to the library every day after school to do her homework on a computer.

"If you take away the library, it's going to be bad [in Hazelwood], all drugs and guns," she said.

"We have nothing," added Saundra McKamey, of Hazelwood. "No schools. No pool. We use that library faithfully."

Ronald Payne, a private music teacher in Hazelwood, wondered how he would be able to teach his students without a library. Then he produced a trumpet and began to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" to cheers and applause.

"I think the song symbolizes everyone coming together here," he said afterwards.

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