Library fans seek reprieve

North Side resident Barbara Colvin commutes by bus to her weekday job at a call center in Spokane Valley, a schedule that leaves her with just one day a week to go to the library. That’s Saturday.

Colvin and a half-dozen other library patrons pleaded with the Spokane Library Board on Tuesday to keep the Downtown Library open on Saturdays. The board is holding a series of town hall meetings this week before it decides how to trim $1 million from library operations as part of a $12 million cut in Spokane city services for 2005.

The libraries are expected to receive $6.3 million from the $118 million general fund as proposed by Mayor Jim West. The proposal includes a small property tax increase approved by the City Council on Monday. The Library Board meets Monday at 4 p.m. in the lower level of the Downtown Library to consider its budget.

There are no other proposals before the City Council for increasing tax revenue next year. As it stands, the general fund budget cuts could bring the loss of 142 staff positions citywide, including police, firefighters and 15 library employees.

The Library Board is looking at two options for cuts. One would trim service at the city’s five neighborhood branches to two or three days a week. The other option would close the smaller Hillyard, Indian Trail and East Side branches completely.

The Downtown Library is facing a cutback from six to five days a week.

Colvin told the board she won’t be able to use the Downtown Library if it closes Saturdays.

With her modest income, she said, she relies on the library for reading and entertainment material, and for something that’s even more important to her. She chats with her mother by e-mail over library computers every Saturday. All of those services are free, and allow Colvin to economize.

“This allows me to keep my expenses down,” she said in an interview after the meeting.

Tom Durst, who lives in Browne’s Addition, told the board he uses library computers to browse the Web almost daily. “I strongly feel the Downtown Library should not be closed on Saturdays,” he said.

Durst said he would be willing to pay a $10 annual fee or make a voluntary contribution in exchange for the service.

Donna Phillips of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society said her group has helped build a collection that can be used to trace personal histories, and members of the society are eager to keep the library open on Saturdays. The society’s monthly meetings are on Saturdays at the library.

Elizabeth Regan, a former library employee, said she fears that a proposed cut of $148,000 in library material purchases would dilute the value of the library. “I’m concerned about the big cut in the materials budget,” she said.

Library Board members so far have indicated a preference for partial closures of the five neighborhood branches, something Library Director Jan Sanders called the “shared pain method.”

But “mothball” closures of the three smaller branch libraries, rather than partial closures of the five neighborhood branches, would save more money. Under the mothballing option, the library system would have more money for materials and could keep funding for its current library outreach program that serves 39 retirement centers and nursing homes.

Carrie Estuar said she wants the Library Board to consider charging fees for library cards to raise revenue, but Sanders said libraries in Washington cannot levy such fees. Estuar disputed that.

Others at the meeting suggested fund-raising efforts and the use of more volunteers.

Sanders said the city is limited in its ability to raise revenue through taxes. “We are willing to look at other things, and I think it’s good to have that discussion,” she said.

One resident criticized the efficiency of library staff, but Sanders defended her employees, saying they have juggled programs and trimmed services in the wake of cuts dating back to 2002. The Downtown Library was closed on Saturdays from 1999 to early in 2002, when Saturday service was reinstated.

Dennis Fredrickson, branch manager downtown, said a reconfiguration of computer stations and help desks will reduce the need for three library positions, saving about $180,000 next year, but that is before any of the proposed cuts are made.