Contact Info

E-mail: peopleofboston [at] gmail {dot} com (Feel free to write with ?s about the problem and I'll post answers here)

Facebook Group: Say NO to Branch Closings of the Boston Public Library

Facebook Page: Keep the Boston Public Library Open

Twitter:@peopleofboston

Hashtag is #saveBPL

Shortcut to Events

Our Purpose

The purpose of People of Boston Branches is to bring together the patrons, community groups, schools, Friends, workers, neighborhoods and other supporters of the library who will be affected by these cuts. We seek accountability, transparency, and action from city, state, and library leadership.

Accountability
We want to hold leadership responsible where we see problems in the financing structure of the library, the timing of the recent announcements, the speed of the decisions, and the lost trust in our leadership.
Transparency
We want to see more information on what constitute statewide, regional, and branch services of the library, the budget process, the use of library funds, the action of city hall, the long-term plans for the library system, and the impact of the proposed changes.
Actions
We aim to inform the public, organize and publicize events, organize future fund raising and volunteer efforts, provide long-term support to the branches and workers on these issues, and work towards political action and advocate for the library at all levels of government.

Home Rule Petition Filed 6/29 by Councillors Ross, Pressley, and Arroyo

Action You Can Take

Get on our e-mail list: peopleofboston@gmail.com

Call and write to:

Ways & Means Chairman Mark Ciommo: mark.ciommo@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-3113

At-Large City Councillors:
John Connolly: John.R.Connolly@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-3115
Ayanna Pressley: Ayanna.Pressley@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4217
Felix Arroyo: Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4205
Stephen Murphy: Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4376
Your City Councillor (Find him or her HERE)

Call and write to the Mayor: mayor@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4500

E-mail your neighborhood liaison and tell him or her (find your liaison HEREthat libraries are important to your neighborhood

See below for 2 topics that you can use for your message

This issue is an embaressment to our city, as demonstrated here. Note the use of the word "formerly" in the first panel.

Other cities have solved this problem like we are proposing, such as in Charlotte.

Flyers to Distribute

1/2 Sheet Flier (needs to be cut in half)

June 3 Rally - English

June 3 Rally - Spanish

Latest E-mail Update (5/23/10)

We are building momentum as we approach the June 3rd City Budget Hearing on the library. Again, it starts at 6 PM at city hall, with a rally beginning at 5 PM in the plaza outside.

Rally Sponsorship

The sponsorship list for the rally beforehand at Government Center is growing. Our current list of sponsors includes: AFSCME Local 1526, Boston Firefighters Local 718, Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association, Boston Teachers Union, Brighton‐Allston Historical Society, Brighton Garden & Horticultural Society, Brighton Allston Improvement Association, Coalition to Fund Our Community/Cut Military Spending 25%, The Connolly Friends, D7 Roundtable, Dorchester People for Peace, Educational Development Group, Greater Boston Labor Council, Hobart Park Neighborhood Association (HPNA), Friends of the Adams Street Library, Friends of the Connolly Library, Friends of the Dudley Library, Friends of Egleston Square Branch Library, Friends of the Faneuil Branch Library, Friends of the Fields Corner Library, Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library, Friends of the Mattapan Branch Library, Friends of the Oak Square Common, Friends of the Orient Heights Library, Friends of the South End Library, MassCOSH, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice,Massachusetts Senior Action, People Of Boston Branches, Radical Reference Collective, Save the Lower Mills Library Task Force, Student Labor Action Project, Union of Minority Neighborhoods ... and growing

Please consider having your civic group become a sponsor. It simply indicates your support of the libraries and shows the city council that there are many in the community willing to stand behind the importance of libraries for our neighbors and neighborhoods.

To sponsor, just respond with the name of the group you represent and we will add them to our list.

Notably, the Citywide Friends of the Library has declined to sponsor this event

Publicity

We had an outstanding morning this past Thursday, with fliers going quickly and lots of support from the community at Ashmont, Orient Heights, and Broadway T-stops. Volunteers who helped us out there were overwhelmed by the support and by the interest of the community in what's going on at the library.

We also had a great time handing out information at the Old Colony Housing Development, which will be devastated by the loss of its Washington Village Branch.

We want to continue this week with more flyering at these same stops (after all, we were only there for 1/2 an hour before running out of flyers!) and try to expand to others. With how quickly the flyers go, we can have people there at either 7:45 A.M. or 8:30 A.M., so if it was just a bit too early for you, please come out for a later time! If we get enough volunteers, we can also do afternoon rush hours.

The stops this week will be Ashmont, Orient Heights, and Andrew -- or whatever stop you want! Just let us know.

We have postcards pre-addressed to the mayor that we have begun distributing and a half-sheet of information about what's going on at the library and when the budget hearing will take place. Please help us get these in the hands of would-be supporters!

BPL Community Task Forces

The BPL community task forces have begun to discuss transitional services with the affected communities. Plans for Book Vending Machines and Story Hours in alternative locations are two recurrent items. Some of these locations include YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs, where the BPL is working to allow non-members to utilize the re-located programs by showing a BPL card.

Some locations are alternative library spaces, such as the South Boston Branch, where kids may have to be transported in vans over to the location. Transportation will require coordination efforts so that kids know when and where to find the van and because of insurance requirements will require signed permission slips. A staffing plan for these, or any services, is not yet known -- with 25% fewer staff it is hard to see how this plan is viable.

When the Board of Trustees complained so vigorously that the reduced-hours option would be confusing and impossible to imagine, we find it hard to see any simplicity in the options being discussed. They include multiple alternative sites per library at unfamiliar, and sometimes far away, locations. Even if patrons can figure out how to utilize the these services, the chance to ingrain a life-long habit of library patronage will be lost by distributing services across the community in every location but a public library branch.

The last remaining meeting is for the Lower Mills neighborhood at the Carney Hospital Board Room - Monday, May 24th at 6:30 P.M. Please attend and ask for answers to the many questions about what library services will look like over the next year.

State Budget

There are two sets of state budget amendments that will require debate and possibly reconciliation with the house budget depending on which ones pass. The debate process on these amendments begins this week and we will keep you updated on the outcome so that you can write to the governor.

City Budget

We still have another week until the budget hearings, but we have to keep up the pressure on our city councilors.

Two item that can be brought up if you are out of things to write about:

  1. The library collects fines for overdue books every year. This money does not go back to the library, but rather goes to the city's general fund. It is time to advocate for consistent, steady, streams of library for stabilizing the system, not a reduction of workers and the services they provide. The parking meter fund is "statutorily restricted for maintenance and operation of meters and other parking and related activities" and we need the same type of protection for the money we pay to the library for fines. The city will not be good stewards of our money otherwise.

  2. City reserves rise every year while cuts are being made to our services. The city's certified Free Cash was $110.2M in 2008, $121.2M in 2009, and will be $139.0M in 2010. This is with $35M and $45M appropriations in 2008 & 2009. This year's appropriation is $45M and there is no reason that we cannot use more of these funds to save the library. The cuts faced by the library are not only a decimation of services and public space in our communities, but they are tearing apart the library system by pitting Trustees and the Administration against patrons and the workers. The distrust and animosity that this process has dredged up will affect the system in the many years to come. These repercussions far outweigh any benefit to the city holding on to .1% of its budget and we need someone to step in and say enough is enough -- the people have fought hard enough.

In parting, here is an apropos passage from a recent library book:

"The world of information and communication online, much hailed as a technological advance, is also a social retreat accompanying a loss of the public and social space of the cities; a loss of the aesthetic, sensual, and nonhuman space of the country; a privatization of physical space; and a disembodiment of daily life. A central appeal cited for the new technologies is that their users will no longer have to leave home, and paeans accumulate lauding the convenience of being able to access libraries and entertainments via personal computers, which become less tools of engenderment than channels of consumption. This vision of disembodied anchorites connected to the world only by information and entertainment, mediated by the entities that control the flow, seems more nightmarish than idyllic. Postulated as a solution to gridlock, crime on the streets, the chronic sense of time's scarcity, it seems instead a means to avoid addressing such problems, a form of acquiescence." - Rebecca Solnit, Storming the Gates of Paradise

The plan put forth by the mayor does not address the problem of our under funded, under serviced, and under staffed library. The mayor did not create this problem, but he can solve it for us and save us from the abandonment by the state. If we instead approve the current plan, we are acquiescing to his administration's inability or unwillingness to solve the problem correctly. We need to save the system by giving the library the funds to transform the library in a way that the people can approve, not by pretending we will all be better off with a poorly funded library that the public should grow to resent.

An Old Summary of the Issue - For the latest news go to Press Releases

  1. Where Does this Gap Come From?

    2. The budget gap comes from the city, which is cutting funding by $300,000, the state, which is cutting funding by $1.6M, and other sources (e.g., trust funds, donations, fine revenue, etc.), which are projected to fall $500,000. This $2.4M gap coupled with a projected increase of $1.2M in expenses creates the total gap of $3.6M

  2. How Long Has the Budget Been Shrinking?

    3. The city budget has fallen nearly $2M since FY09. The state budget has fallen $6.5M since FY09. Both are projected to fall farther in FY12

  3. Why has State Funding Declined so Much?

    4. State funding fell most dramatically in FY10. One of the state funding line-items, "The Library of Last Recourse (LLR)", lost an earmark that dropped funding by $4.6M. The statute for this item suggests a funding level of $.50 per Massachusetts citizen (per capita), before FY10 the funding level was $1.17 and the FY10 budget dropped it to the recommended $.50. When library officials say that they no longer have power in the state house, this is the most dramatic example of this lost power. This year funding will be $.42 per capita and next year it is projected to be $.30 per capita, overall a nearly 75% reduction. This money is not meant to fund branch activities (see below).

  4. What Else Has the State Taken Away?

    5. The other funding loss is the "Boston Regional Library System" line item, a loss of nearly $1M. This funding was given to the BPL because it was an "administrator" of the Boston Regional Library System. The funding is going away because the Massachusetts Board of Library Comissioners is reorganizing the system and consolidating the 6 old regions into one single region with a new administrator. It is not meant to fund branch activities.

  5. Is This the State's Fault?

    6. The Library of Last Recourse and the Boston Regional Library System funds are not meant to support branch library services. According to the Massachusetts Board of Library Comissioners, the LLR funds are supposed to be used "to provide reference and research services for the Commonwealth in support of the research library at Copley." According to the MBLC, The Regional Library System funds "may be used only to provide services to the member libraries of the regional area including: database licensing, delivery, continuing education, interlibrary loan. In our opinion, the state is not at fault for the loss of neighborhood branches, this is a decision by the trustees and the city to target the branches for cuts.

  6. If the State is Taking Over the Regional Library System, is this Really a Loss?

    7. In theory, no, this should not be a loss. In reality, it is unclear how much of these costs will be taken over by the state. Pres. Ryan has said that they do not make a distinction between these funds and funds that support branches. However, according to the last city budget glossary available online, the Regional funds work on a reimbursment system. The library must request reimbursment from the state, so these costs should be known. Also, the library's budget has a personnel line item for "Boston Regional Library" that totals $550,000. Thus, $1.6M of the gap is money that should not be affecting the branches.

  7. Even Without State Losses, Wouldn't There Still Be A Gap?

    8. Yes, there would still be $300K in a city gap that could likely be filled with city reserves. There would also still be a $527K from other lost sources of revenue, that could have been offset with more creative revenue stream creations. This decrease is $1.2M since FY09, with no change that we are aware of in how revenue is brought into the library. Lastly, there would be a $1.2M gap due to increased costs in FY11. We do not have enough information on this increase to determine whether contract negotiations or changes in spending could fill this gap.

  8. My Library Just Got a New Roof, Did We Hurt the Other Branches?

    9. No. The capital budget pays for things like renovations, new roofs, etc. and is completely separate from the operating budget of the BPL. Many libraries like the Jamaica Plain Branch and the East Boston Branch have been waiting for improvements to their buildings that would have given them many of the amenities that the leadership now claims are valuable to a branch deserving of the BPL name. We are hearing stories of empty promises from the city from many branches around the city and we believe this is a difference in priorities not money. The Brighton Branch is currently undergoing renovations. I have heard from some there that they cannot celebrate their new branch while they watch the branches around them die. We should be celebrating these improvements because our libraries deserve them and these are the improvements we should be making at our libraries, not cutting off branches that the leadership thinks are rotted. Also, no one has mentioned using capital budget money to fund the operating expenses of the library. Without such a proposal, skipping a new roof would not impact the closures and we should take as much money and as many improvements as they will give us

  9. Isn't a Reduction of Hours a Good Compromise?

    10. The current plan calls for the elimination of 69 positions at Central, a move that is being presented as non-negotiable, there is no second option. Both branch options (reduction of hours and closures) eliminate up to 35 full-time employees at the branches. These positions represent 104 people who work behind the scenes and who you have come to know at both the Central library and the branches. The plan also calls for leaving vacancies unfilled, putting future librarians in the area's library science program at risk of unemployment or leaving the city. Without full funding from a source like the city reserves, unions will also likely be called upon for concessions and changes to their current contracts. Apart from being bad for the library, these cuts are bad for our neighborhoods. These students and workers are our neighbors, they care deeply for the library, and they deserve our support. The abandoned jobs will leave just as much of a void in our communities as the abandoned buildings.

  10. They Are Cutting 104 Jobs, Isn't that A Large Percentage of the Current Workforce?

    11. Yes, it is 25% of the workforce and we are supposed to believe that this will magically 'transform' the library system into a better place. Meanwhile, no one has said that the 35 positions at the branches coupled with branch closures will actually result in a net-gain in employees per branch. No one has said how a library system whose usage is growing, whose books are stacking up - waiting to be shelved, and whose computers already have lines at many times throughout the day, will benefit by shrinking and consolidating services. We are just supposed to trust the leadership, just like Jeffries Point trusted that they would get a bookmobile, just like JP-Sedgewick trusted that they would get a renovated library, just like libraries all over the city have trusted that promises would be kept. There is no guarantee that this transformation is not just another empty promise, there is no guarantee that this plan will make anything better. We are just supposed to trust the leadership that has lead us to this problem.

  11. With the Internet Around, Why Do We Even Have Paper?

    12. Pretending that the internet is making libraries obsolete implies that the market forces that shape book store economics are the same forces that shape library usage and is a false assumption. Libraries are used by those who cannot afford to purchase books, whether they be digital or paper. Libraries are used by children who need libraries while at school and find their former basement/closet Boston Public School library completely shuttered. Libraries are used by teens who mentor and tutor other children. Libraries are used by the unemployed to find new jobs or seek out new educational programs. Libraries are used by the ederly who do not have internet service or still rely on dial-up services. 77 million users a year utilize library internet services. On Sunday March 28th, while we marched outside the BPL, people waited in line upstairs to use the internet. Libraries are used by people who read 3-4 books a month and still want to be able to afford their rent. In short library users and book buyers do not necessarily overlap. Book buyers and job seekers do not necessarily overlap. Book buyers and internet users do not necessarily overlap. Portions of Boston just got cable television service within the past 7 years, others do not have the resources to pay the Comcast monopoly $60 a month for internet service. We do not question that the government should educate us and we mandate school attendance. Why then do we question that the government should enable us to educate ourselves and why do we not mandate library services?

  12. What is the Mayor's Role in This?

    13. The mayor appoints all of the trustees. The trustees are not vetted and are not confirmed by anyone. The trustees vote on the budget that goes to the city. Thus, it could be said that the mayor controls the budget that is sent to him. The mayor has also made his opinion clear, calling for the closure of branches (as well as community centers -- schools are also at risk due to a budget gap). This is a choice that he has made despite the fact that he has the power (through city reserves) to fill the budget gap and he has a choice to push for cuts to state services instead. The mayor has also been the one constant in library leadership over his previous 4 terms. He had the power to examine how state funds were being used during this time and to suggest a funding structure that protected our neighborhoods if the libraries lost state money, offering up city resources as a source of support. Also, the problems we face now were not brought up until after his latest campaign for office, even though the library had lost vast sums of money in FY10 and the BPL executives were working on a FY11 BPL Action Plan that was presented to the trustees on November 17, 2009. Closures were not first brought to the table until January (at which time a $1.5M drop in funding from the city was projected) and we find it hard to believe that this is the first time anyone noticed the extent of the problem. If this plan goes through, this will be his legacy.

  13. How Can I Help RIGHT NOW?

    14. Write to your city councillor (find him/her here). He or she will have an up or down vote on the city budget the mayor presents. Only with a majority of councillors opposed to branch cuts can the budget be blocked on this aspect. If the mayor concedes enough on any other issue, a councillor's vote can be lost and the budget can pass. You must tell your city councillor to hold firm on keeping ALL branches open

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    Last Updated May 23, 2010