PROVIDENCE – The Providence Public Library board of trustees yesterday discussed multiple options for the city library system, including possible taxpayer benefits of making the library a city department, according to a statement released late yesterday by the PPL.
“We continue to be committed to operating a strong main library that will offer free accessible library services to residents of Providence and the state,” said Chair Lisa Churchville, “and are hopeful that the City will explore all options for its Municipal Library System to ensure patrons have neighborhood access to services.”
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The PPL said figures from other urban communities indicate that, by making the library a municipal department, the City of Providence might be able to cut costs while maintaining or increasing library services.
The trustees found that economies of scale might permit the city to operate the library system for $3.8 million per year, 24 percent less than the PPL’s recent $5 million bid for fiscal 2008. By comparison, the city’s current funding for neighborhood branch services amounts to $3.75 million, including state grant-in-aid funds, the PPL trustees said.
A city takeover also would allow Providence to take advantage of its own personnel, security, facilities and business services, the trustees said, as well as presumably improve library workers’ benefits and possibly extend library hours. Further savings could be achieved by controlling spending and exploring “efficiencies … through co-location of library branches with other city facilities,” according to the PPL statement.
The PPL, at the mayor’s request, is now operating city libraries under a one-year extension that ends June 30.
The Mayor’s Municipal Library Services Working Group has not yet reviewed the information in the joint Strategic Plan, Churchville told her fellow trustees at yesterday’s board meeting, but it has requested data on branch spending for a detailed analysis.
In providing that financial information, the Library came to understand just how much sense it would make for the City to consider running its municipal library services as a department, Churchville said. “We actually shared these insights with the Mayor’s Working Group beginning in January,” she added.
“Regardless of what options the City chooses to pursue for providing library services in the coming year and beyond, our goal continues to be to have a smooth transition. … This is why we have appointed a Trustee Transition Team, which will begin meeting this week,” Churchville said.
In a statment this morning, Mayor David N. Cicilline was dismissive of the PPL’s efforts.
“Months ago, the City of Providence and the Providence Public Library Board agreed to conduct negotiations through the Library Partnership Working Group,” Cicilline said. “It’s disappointing that the Library Board has purposely disregarded the process.
“The serious analysis and review underway by the Working Group to strengthen and preserve our library system is ongoing, and the action taken by the Library Board only threatens to disrupt this critically important process,” he added
