Ideas run gamut on keeping all city libraries open
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Ideas for keeping the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's branches open and running ranged from obtaining corporate sponsorship to adding used bookstores at a public brainstorming session Saturday on the library system's future.
All suggestions will be given to a task force created after a funding crisis led the library board to propose closing four of the system's 19 branches last year. A public outcry produced an infusion of emergency funds as a temporary fix.
Asked if the task force would reject branch closures, Mary Frances Cooper, deputy director of the Carnegie Library, said that depended on alternatives.
Closures "can be gone if we get together and come up with a plan to make it go away," she said.
About 50 people attended the first of two meetings Saturday at the Serbian Club, South Side. Others will be held at 2 p.m. today in the North Side library and at 6:30 p.m. Monday in St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Oakland. Summaries will be posted at www.carnegielibrary.org/future.
Ms. Cooper explained that more than 90 percent of funding comes from the Regional Asset District -- which distributes some county sales tax revenue -- and from the state. Proceeds from casino table games may add up to $800,000 next year, but its 2009 shortfall was $1.5 million. She described the library's efforts to close that gap, including staff cuts, salary freezes and adding a "donate now" button to its website.
Her description of a successful $55 million capital campaign drew criticism from some participants, who complained that it was used for major renovations on a few libraries rather than to help all of them stay open. When Ms. Cooper said money raised for buildings can't legally be used for operating costs, one participant suggested asking the original donors to redirect their gifts to buy books and pay staff.
First Published May 16, 2010 12:00 am
