Here's my news article on Englewood Public Library ---
Charlene Taylor, head reference librarian, with Robert Cagney, patron.
The library is facing a budget cut this year which represents 23% less than its 2011 levels. No other department budget would be cut as much. The library proposed a counteroffer at the council budget meeting Tuesday of 12%, saying that it would not fill up four vacant library positions due to resignation and retirement. Libraries in Bergen County have endured budget cuts in recent years, reducing hours, cutting personnel or simply closing, as in the case of Northvale which shut its doors last year.
Englewood Library fights for survival
A woman with a baby in her arms quietly sat down by the library computer, but since the child kept moving, she put her in the stroller by the side. A few minutes later the baby started crying, then the mother cried too.
“Is there anything wrong?” the librarian asked.
“I just lost my job, I’m behind in my rent, and I‘m about to be evicted. I don’t know where else to go,” the woman said.
“This is one of the human-interest stories going around at the library, now that it is facing a severe budget cut,” said Charlene Taylor, head reference librarian of Englewood Public Library, NJ. She understood why the woman said she had nowhere else to go because the library, besides providing the services that they usually do, is also a community center (the city doesn’t have), a designated public “cool area” in the hottest summer and a “warm place” in the coldest winter for all its residents.
The city manager has recently proposed to the city council a total budget cut of $1.5 million, of which the library share would be over a half million, or 34 percent of the total. But the library expense represents only 5 percent of the entire municipal budget.
“The proposed cut is truly alarming,” said Ann Dermansky, library board member, at a recent council meeting. “If you look at the proposed budget, no other department is being asked to make the same ‘sacrifice’ ”.
“The final decision rests with the council officials (with Mayor Frank Huttle III presiding), who must decide how much value the library provides the residents,” said Ann Sparanese, a Friends of the Library board member and retired head reference librarian. “The library cut would be about 23% or $516,000 from the library’s meager 2.4% share of the city’s overall tax levy. This is huge and simply an onerous cut.”
At the council meeting, library supporters, crowding the hall with “Save Our Library” placards, asked the council members to reassess their priorities in budget cutting.
Anita Newkirk, a patron and resident, said: “In one of the entrances to our city, there’s a sign that says ‘Welcome to the City of Englewood --- a Full Service City’. Let us keep our motto that the city provides full services, not only in health and peace and order but also in enriching education and uplifting the wellbeing of all families.”
An important service the library provides is adult programming. “Despite budget constraints, I tried to maintain the quality of adult programming by inviting concert ensembles to perform and university professors to address patrons,” said Dick Burnon, head of programming, whose budget had been severely reduced the previous year. “But despite that, the library held 146 children’s programs, 94 adult programs and 122 community programs.”
Another service of the library to a diverse community such as Englewood, is its free literacy program where residents learn English (ESL), improve job/employment skills, and attain wellness and healthy lifestyles. “For most of the city’s immigrant population, the free language classes is the only option available to them,” said Grace Colaneri, head of the literacy department.
In a letter to Mayor Frank Huttle III, Patricia A. Tumulty, president of Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey, wrote: Despite tenuous situation the Englewood Literacy Volunteers find themselves due to previous budget cuts, they (49 volunteer tutors) last year donated 2,000 hours of free instruction to 67 adults who represent the community’s diversity --- Asian, African-American, Latino, and White.
“Sixty-seven adults at the library are waiting to be matched with a literacy tutor. These adults, along with those currently being served and the many future students of the program, are motivated to improve their lives and the lives of their children by increasing their literacy skills. So as you make the tough decisions dictated by limited resouces, please make it a priority to continue your investment in your community by supporting adult literacy education for Englewood’s residents,” she further wrote.
All these public services will be reduced or eliminated once the library’s budget is cut to the bone. As Ann Sparanese wrote a local newspaper editor: If this cut is allowed to go forward, in a year or two, our library will be a mere shadow of its former self. This cut is simply too much, too fast. The library building will still be there, but what else?
And if this trend keeps going, Englewood will go the way of other libraries which reduced hours, laid-off personnel, eliminated services, and finally shut down, like neighboring Northvale Library.
Nobody knows what happened to that woman who lost her job and was about to be evicted. But one thing is sure. The Englewood Library wouldn’t be there to help her get a job or provide temporary shelter.
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