What's the value of a library to a small community?
As the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County tries to decide how to deal with a $4.3 million budget cut, the board of trustees and the public are asking how much five neighborhood branches are worth.
According to the library management, the answer is simple. Operating the branches in Bond Hill, Mount Healthy, Elmwood Place, Deer Park and Greenhills costs $1.5 million, a significant amount of the $2.2 million the library must eliminate.
But residents of the affected communities put another value on the branches: priceless.
"Here in Mount Healthy we have five schools within walking distance and about seven day care-type programs within a few blocks of the library," says Janet Curley, who chairs the Committee to Save Mount Healthy's Library.
The committee gathered nearly 7,000 signatures demanding the library find an alternative way to cover its budget.
As the owner of Covered Bridge Antique Mall, Curley says closing the library would also be detrimental to businesses whose customers often stop in before and after using the library, which is in the heart of Mount Healthy's business district.
Curley's reaction to the proposed closings is typical of citizens and leaders in all five threatened neighborhoods.
"You can go in there and you'll see kids coming and going and elderly people," says Greenhills Village Manager David Moore. "A lot of people walk or ride their bicycles. We feel it's a vital part of our community."
The library announced in July it would have to close the five branches, but public outcry convinced the board of trustees to delay making a decision until after community forums were held.
Many have asked why the library can't cut some services at all its branches in order to keep open the five threatened branches.
Library Director Kim Fender says management considered this option, but cutting services would have a more negative impact countywide than closing the five branches.
Few people are blaming the library for the budget problems, which resulted primarily from a more than 7 percent drop in state personal income tax revenues. These taxes fund the Library and Local Government Support Fund, whence the library gets 95 percent of its funding. People are, however, questioning the library's method for dealing with the cuts.
Moore and Curley are suspicious of why the library board chose to close these five branches.
The library management says the branches were chosen because they are relatively small and are within 2.6 miles of other locations. Curley, pointing out that all five branches are in lower to middle income communities, argues this method favors the wealthy.
"Some of these other wealthier communities were not chosen," says Curley. "They claim that there's no demographic pull to that, but if you look where the board members live, they didn't choose their community libraries."
"They should be weighing in some more things, like usage," says Moore.
The Deer Park Branch Library circulates more items per square foot than any other branch. Mount Healthy and Greenhills rank respectively 21st and 28th in circulation among the system's 41 branches.
Curley and Moore say they fear the board's philosophy, which seems to favor large regional libraries but fewer of them.
"Do we want these large libraries that people have to drive to in order to use them, or do we want to keep our small community library?" Curley asks. "Fancier, bigger buildings, but fewer of them -- is that really serving the community?"
Certainly it wouldn't help those who lack Internet access or private transportation, which Curley says is often the case in Mount Healthy.
Meanwhile, community members wait to see if the board can come up with more creative solutions than shutting down five branches that have been open in most cases for more than 60 years. The next board meeting is Monday, and Moore says he hopes to see some fruit from the community forums.
"They are looking for some other ways to make these cuts," he says. "I'm trying to cooperate with them first before hollering and jumping up and down."
BURNING QUESTIONS is our weekly attempt to afflict the comfortable.
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