PPL board OKs 4-year contract with city

PROVIDENCE – The board of trustees of the Providence Public Library has approved a one-time gift of $1.3 million to the City of Providence as part of a tentative four-year agreement to provide municipal library-services.
The new contract follows a one-year deal, signed last summer, that was the first such formal agreement between the city and the 130-year-old PPL. (READ MORE)
If approved by the City Council, the new agreement would “enable the city and the library to create and transition to a sustainable library system that continues to provide important services for residents of Providence and the state,” PPL officials said.
“Service is of primary concern to us,” PPL Chair Lisa Churchville said in a statement last night. “We are pleased that this agreement, and the $1.3 million gift from the library, will provide time for a conversion to a sustainable system [that] provides not only library services to city residents, but also considers options for maintaining important neighborhood needs for community space, safe havens for children, and computer access,” she said.
“Recognizing that the library system as currently configured is not sustainable, both the city and PPL are committed to ensuring that a transition to a reconfigured system is carefully implemented to result in the least amount of disruption possible for all library patrons,” library officials said in a statement. Under the terms of the contract, planning of the reconfigured, sustainable library system would have to be finalized by December and implemented by next July.
“The new agreement provides the time needed for the city, the City Council and the community to consider a variety of options,” the library said.
A Library Partnership Advisory Committee – established last year with members from the city, the PPL and the community – has been weighing ideas that include alternate building uses, co-location of facilities and “dedicated private funding for neighborhood space and operations,” PPL officials noted, adding that “the library is prepared to consider the donation of books, materials, computers and even buildings – an additional gift worth millions of dollars.”
Meanwhile, the library system’s neighborhood branches – including the Washington Park branch, which “all parties agree … is insufficient to meet the needs of the neighborhood,” the library said last year – would be fully funded for the next year. In light of that agreement, the PPL “has already taken steps to expedite its review of the old firehouse building repaired by the city,” in preparation for relocating the Washington Park branch to that building when it is ready for occupancy.
“We look forward to consulting regularly and frequently with the city as it develops new initiatives to serve communities, and we move toward a library system that can be sustained within the budgeted funds available,” Churchville said.
The Providence Public Library is a 130-year-old private, nonprofit organization that serves as a public library for the City of Providence, providing free information resources, education and community services. It also operates the Statewide Reference Resource Center, serving all Rhode Islanders with educational, cultural enrichment and economic advancement opportunities. To learn more, visit www.provlib.org.