PPL system to be reviewed

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.
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. The new agreement – which also requires City Council approval – calls for planning to account for computer, space and budgetary needs to be finalized by December and implemented by next July.
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, colocation of facilities and “dedicated private funding for neighborhood space and operations,” PPL officials noted in a statement, adding that “the library is prepared to consider the donation of books, materials, computers and even buildings – an additional gift worth millions of dollars.”
“We look forward to … a library system that can be sustained within the budgeted funds available,” PPL Chair Lisa Churchville said. &#8226